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IPL 2020: Reason Behind Rajasthan Royals Decision to Shift Home Venue Revealed
- Updated: February 3, 2020
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Inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals have decided to shift their home venue for IPL 2020 to the Baraspara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. As per reports, the Royals will now play three of their seven home matches in Guwahati. It has been reported that the poor state of the Rajasthan Cricket Association has been tough to deal with for RR and that they have expressed their desire to shift base to Guwahati. The request of Rajasthan Royals adopting Guwahati as their second home has been challenged in the court and the franchise is awaiting the final decision.
Last year, Rajasthan Royals had requested to shift a few of their home fixtures outside Jaipur and they picked Guwahati as their second home ground. However, the exact reason why the inaugural IPL winners wanted to adopt a new home venue was not known. The officials finally broke their silence about the same as they revealed the reasons behind their request.
Speaking to TOI on Sunday, one of the Rajasthan Royals officials finally revealed the reason behind their interest in shifting the franchisee’s home venue. Assam Cricket Association secretary Devajit Lon Saikia spoke on the issue in detail.
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“The Rajasthan Royals are willing to play a maximum of three matches in Guwahati. We will also have to take into consideration the logistical aspects, but it is confirmed that Guwahati will host a couple of matches,” Saikia was quoted as saying.
The official also stressed on the difficulties that the franchise has faced at the Sawai Man Singh stadium, the stadium which was their home venue for so long in the IPL.
“Be it the state’s sports council, under whose aegis the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) falls, the state machinery catering to law and order, the former officers of the RCA itself and political bigwigs in the state… they’ve all collectively given Rajasthan Royals nothing but trouble over the years. Plain harassment, that’s what we’ve suffered.”
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He also said that the bad ground condition and the failure of the Rajasthan Cricket Association to improve the conditions have also fuelled their move to shift their home venue in the league.
“Look at the stadium. It’s in such a bad state. The newly-elected body in RCA has just come in and they’ll need time even if they’re looking to correct things. The place has been a mess for quite some time now. Over the years, the RCA has failed to come up with good infrastructure anywhere outside of Jaipur” the official further added.
The official also revealed the actual reason behind the franchise opting for Guwahati as their home venue.
“It’s a lovely ground. Some of our leading players visited there and praised the venue. There’s a strong Marwari presence in the northeast (Royals’ fan-base in Rajasthan) and we feel welcome there. That’s why we put in a request.”
With IPL 2020 starting from March 29, it will be interesting to see if Rajasthan Royal’ s plea of shifting their base to their desired venue is granted or not.
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