Why are the Rajasthan Royals playing in Guwahati in IPL 2023?
Rajasthan Royals (RR) are set to play their first two home games in Guwahati before playing the remainder of their home games in Jaipur.
For the uninitiated, the Barasapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati was scheduled to host a couple of games in IPL 2020 but they couldn’t be held due to COVID-19 in the last three IPL seasons.
With the return of home and away games in IPL 2023, RR have opted for Guwahati as their second home.
Sanju Samson and Co. will play their first home game against Shikhar Dhawan’s Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Guwahati on Wednesday, April 5. They will then host the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the same venue on Saturday, April 8.
As per ESPNCricinfo, the Baraspara Cricket Stadium has a crowd capacity of 40,000. The venue has hosted three T20Is so far.
The toss becomes significant because the northeast venue has a reputation for aiding chasing teams due to excessive dew.
Rajasthan Royals will then return to Jaipur to play their remaining five home games at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, where they will play Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Gujarat Titans (GT), SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
The Royals are not the only team with a second home in IPL 2023, PBKS will also play a couple of home games at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala after their first five games at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals began their IPL 2023 campaign on a winning note, beating Hyderabad by 72 runs, courtesy of a four-wicket haul from Yuzvendra Chahal on Sunday, April 2.
The IPL 2022 runner-up will be brimming with confidence ahead of facing PBKS and DC in Guwahati.
Rajasthan Royals squad for IPL 2023
Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Adam Zampa, KM Asif, Murugan Ashwin, Abdul PA, Akash Vashisht, Joe Root, Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, and KC Cariappa.