IPL drops Jaipur, Delhi and Vizag in revised schedule

The Indian Premier League on Tuesday left Delhi, Jaipur and Visakhapatnam out of its new list of venues, instead drafting in Dharamsala and Ahmedabad in its latest revised schedule. The latest move means Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils will lose out their home advantage, and will have to play their ‘home’ games in other cities. “We had no choice but to keep these states out,” said an IPL source referring to the inability of these state govts to provide security. Arjun Sen reports.

The Indian Premier League on Tuesday left Delhi, Jaipur and Visakhapatnam out of its new list of venues, instead drafting in Dharamsala and Ahmedabad in its latest revised schedule. The three centres were left out because of an “inability of the state governments to provide security to the matches scheduled there”.

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Nine venues in eight cities have been given the clearance by the respective state governments, with Mumbai hosting matches at the Brabourne and DY Patil stadiums. So, IPL-II will be held in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mohali and the two new venues.

The latest move means Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils will lose out their home advantage, and will have to play their ‘home’ games in other cities. “We had no choice but to keep these states out,” said an IPL source.

It is learnt that Rajasthan Royals will play their ‘home’ matches in Ahmedabad. Delhi Daredevils will play a couple of ‘home’ games in Dharamsala, and the rest at bigger grounds to increase the gate money. “Delhi will have to work out a new revenue-sharing system with the various state associations,” said an IPL source.

The decision to strike Jaipur off the list has not gone down well with the Rajasthan Royals’s management and the Rajasthan Cricket Association. “I think it is safe to say that this excuse of no security is just a smokescreen the IPL is employing,” said a source in the Royals.