Iran-Israel conflict impacts IPL 2024: Commentator Kevin Pietersen’s flight rerouted due to missile attacks

Former England cricketerKevin Pietersen had a harrowing experience as his flight to India was rerouted due to Iranian missile strikes on Israel on Sunday (Apr 14). Pietersen has been on commentary duties for the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Having completed one stint already, Pieteren was returning to India tocover the Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK) match when the ordeal started for him.

Pietersen took to his official social media handles to reveal how his flight took a different route to avoid getting hit by the Iranian missiles.

"Well that’s a first. Our plane last night had to go back and add another big load of fuel cos we had to reroute to avoid the missiles from Iran. MADNESS!!!!" wrote Pietersen.

The cricketer, originally from South Africa, added he had landed in Mumbai and was looking forward to the match at Wankhede.

Notably, Iran bombarded Israel with missiles and drones as the tensions escalated between the two regional foes over the ongoing situation in Gaza. According to Iranian media, the attack was in retaliation to an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound inDamascus, Syria on April 1.

MI vs CSK - El Clasico of IPL

Touted as IPL's El Clasico, CSK and MI come into the contest with contrasting seasons so far. While MI lost the opening three games before winning two on the trot,CSK have been sitting pretty in third place after five games.

Hence, thetwo teams, with a collective 10 titles under their belt will not only play for the two points but the bragging rights as well.

MI and CSK havemet each other on 36 occasions in the IPL so far. Out of these 36 matches, Chennai have won 16 games whereas Mumbai have come out victorious on 20 occasions.

Predicted Playing XI's:

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Shreyas Gopal, Jasprit Bumrah, Gerald Coetzee, Akash Madhwal. (Impact Substitute: Suryakumar Yadav)

Chennai Super Kings:Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana. (Impact Substitute: Shivam Dube)

(With inputs from agencies)