The Royals are pleased to be playing in front of their loyal Jaipur fans once again
Just weeks after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that all of the Rajasthan Royals’ home games would be moved from Jaipur to Ahmedabad and Rajkot, the board have revealed that the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise have been allowed to continue playing in their original city after a deal was struck.
A few weeks ago, the Rajathan Royals were unable to use the facilities at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, but after a meeting between the IPL, Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) and Rajasthan Royal officials at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, RCA acting secreatry KK Sharma announced that he had been told to start preparations for the IPL.
“The board gave us the nod during [the] meeting and we have started the preparations,” Sharma told ESPNcricinfo. “We will work in tandem with Rajasthan Royals to ensure Jaipur stages a grand IPL show yet again.”
The Royals were set to be moved to Ahmedabad and Rajkot after the RCA were involved in a dispute with the Rajasthan state sports council, who own the stadium.
Since the expiration of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in July last year, both parties have been unable to come to an agreement about the terms of renewal.
However, the Rajasthan High Court ordered both parties to come to an agreement and have cricket returned to the fans of Jaipur.
In their new agreement, the RCA paid the sports council Rs 1 crore immediately and also gave eight post-dated cheques of Rs 20 lakh each to rent the stadium for the IPL matches.
RCA curator Taposh Chatterjee has been working tirelessly with his groundstaff crew to prepare the venue in anticipation for the Royals’ first IPL home game, which is scheduled on April 8 against defending champions, the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Rajasthan Royals chief executive Raghu Iyer was ecstatic to have all of the Royals’ home games back in Jaipur and said that the Sawai Mansingh Stadium “has always been the preferred home ground for Royals”.