Ranji Trophy | Kolkata 25K Run delays start of Karnataka-Vidarbha semifinal

In the history of cricket, fans have seen games being delayed due to rain or lack of light. But, today, a Ranji Trophy semifinal game was delayed due to a traffic jam caused by a marathon. The semifinal between Karnataka and Vidarbha, which was scheduled to start at 9 am, started half an hour late as the Vidarbha team player were stuck in traffic while coming to the venue from Taj Bengal which is around 4kms from the Eden Gardens. 

They faced this situation because of the Kolkata 25K run, in which thousands of runners, including Ethiopian long distance world record holder Kenenisa Bekele, participated. There were various restrictions around the Maidan area, where the 25K event was flagged off and this is the same area where the cricket match venue is located.

"We were caught in a traffic jam resulting in the delay," a team official said as quoted by PTI.

Karnataka, however, didn’t face the same problem as their team hotel, Latit Great Eastern, was closer to the stadium. A senior Kolkata Traffic Police official refused to take the responsibility of the mismanagement and said that they have done enough work to make the citizens aware of the event.

"The team should have started early," the official said. 

"It's an international event and we have been publicising about this event for a long time. There has been many announcements about the traffic regulations in the media."