Chennai Super Kings defeated Gujarat Titans in a thrilling contest on Monday to lift the IPL trophy for a record-equalling fifth time. But, the intermittent rains almost threatened the final and appeared set to finish the contest without any play. This has prompted Youth Congress leader B Srinivas to take a dig at Home Minister Amit Shah by exposing his earlier claims about the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Immediately after the inauguration of the stadium, Shah had sensationally claimed that the new stadium named after a living prime minister of India was so hi-tech that even incessant rainfall would not be able to hamper the continuation of a cricket match as the state-of-the-art drainage system installed inside the stadium would flush out all the water with lightning speed.
“A stadium with a capacity of 1,32,000 named after Narendra Modi was inaugurated by the President of India today. We’ve installed the state-of-the-art water drainage system (in the stadium). Regardless of how much it rains, we will be resume the game within half an hour of the rains,” Shah, whose son, Jay Shah now heads the Indian cricket board, had said at the time of the stadium’s inauguration.
In reality, Sunday’s rains forced the organisers to postpone the final to Monday. On Monday, the match was halted by rains again immediately after the Chennai Super Kings began their run chase. It took the organisers several hours to make the ground ready for the resumption of the match. Due to the time loss even on Monday, the CSK had five overs less to chase the total.
This prompted Youth Congress leader B Srinivas to take a dig at Amit Shah on Twitter.
Ok! pic.twitter.com/kjZZq8Vs66
— Srinivas BV (@srinivasiyc) May 29, 2023
Jay Shah, currently the BCCI Secretary, had to express his gratitude to fans for returning to the stadium the second day in a row even after the final could not be staged due to rains on Sunday. He wrote on Twitter, “Fans are the backbone of @IPL. Unmatched dedication by our fans as they kept calm till the very end on a rain-washed Sunday & came back today! As we pull the curtain to another exciting season, a big thank you to all for their unwavering support throughout,” Shah wrote.
In the end, Jay Shah was left disheartened as CSK players pulled off a remarkable victory against the local Gujarati team, which Shah junior was seen supporting.
