IPL 2018: Jaipur could miss out on hosting games
What's the story?
Jaipur could miss out on hosting IPL games for the latest season of the league next year, after a delay in a hearing at the Rajasthan High Court. The state Cricket Association is still waiting to once again be affiliated to the national Board, the BCCI, with a date set to be fixed for that hearing.
As a result of what is believed to be miscommunication regarding that date, the city may miss out once again on hosting IPL games.
In case you didn't know...
The Rajasthan Royals, along with multiple title winners Chennai Super Kings, saw a two year suspension in the 2015 season after it was found that Raj Kundra, co-owner of the Royals, and Gurunath Meiyappan, former team principal of the Super Kings, were involved in illegal betting.
Both of them have since been banned from "any cricketing activity" for life.
Their respective teams were also banned for a two-year period, with both returning in the upcoming 2018 season of the Indian Premier League. While CSK will remain the same in terms of its name, the Jaipur-based team will be known only as the 'Royals,' dropping the Rajasthan from their name.
That name change was approved by the IPL Governing Council earlier this year, and officials there also confirmed the team would switch base to Pune, where the former Rising Pune Supergiant, owned by Sanjiv Goenka, were located. That team had largely featured players from the Super Kings, key among them skipper MS Dhoni.
Read more: CSK changes ownership, Rajasthan royals change name
The details
With a dispute currently ongoing between the BCCI and the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), Justice Manish Bhandari had said he would take up the case at the board's Special General Meeting, which was scheduled for the 11th of December, 2017.
Justice Bhandari, at the time of scheduling the meeting, had instructed the BCCI to present its conditions for the revocation of the ban on that date.
However, it appears to be a clerical error that has now caused the RCA serious heartache.
"The judge wanted to know when the BCCI SGM was scheduled," an RCA official told the Times of India.
"When we informed him (Bhandari) that it was on December 11, he had deferred the hearing to December 12."
"However, owing to some miscommunication, the date was put as January 12 on the official register. Justice Bhandari went off on a month-long vacation on December 13, and there wasn't enough time to reschedule the hearing before his departure."
Since then, RCA President CP Joshi is said to have written to the board asking them to allot games to the RCA's home ground, Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, but there is said to have been no response.
What's next?
The hearing has now been postponed to the 12th of January, the date that was miscommunicated to begin with.
However, that time frame means that venues for the IPL 2018 will most likely be decided upon by then, putting the RCA out of contention to host regardless.
Author's Take
Given the fact that the former Rajasthan Royals have dropped the state from their name and shifted both base and ownership to Pune, there remain minimal ties in terms of the team itself, apart from legacy fans. With team lineups also being seriously changed in the time since the RR won the IPL, the location could signal a shift for fans - and home team loyalties as a result. Since Pune now again do not have a home team after the RPSG ceases to exist, the Royals could become Pune's home team instead.