The Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur will be the new home ground for Mumbai Indians in May, after the Rajastan Cricket Association agreed to host the IPL matches for the defending champions.
After negotiating for a couple of days, Rajasthan's sports minister Gajender Singh Khinsvar, who insisted on bringing IPL matches back to the city, convinced RCA to give a no- objection letter and also agreed to hand over the Sawai Mandingh Stadium to the state government to host the matches.
The RCA, which was suspended by the BCCI this year has agreed to extend its assistance and support to the State government in hosting the matches.
"I must thank both the BCCI and the RCA for this," Khinvsar said. "They agreed to allow SMS to hold the matches despite their differences and in the best interest of the game."
MI were asked to choose from Jaipur, Kanpur and Raipur as an alternative for their home venue after the Bombay High Court banned IPL matches in Maharashtra due to drought.
According to him, Jaipur was MIs' first choice as an alternate venue.
"But then, the question marks arose only because BCCI were firm that the RCA would have no role to play. Having said that, perhaps the BCCI is also aware that only the RCA has the expertise required for a match of this standard and the cricket body's technical staff will be assisting the sports council," he said.
"Preparing the ground is a very technical thing," Khinvsar said. "The RCA curator, Tapash Chatterjee, is the best person to handle this task. So, we will be asking him to supervise ground-related work."
Earlier, the RCA President Lalit Modi had tweeted saying that it would be illegal to conduct matches in the city without the association's permission.
The RCA had apparently been firm that they would have their representative in any committee that overlooks the organisation of these games. "The BCCI would not agree to that. So, I had to sit with the RCA representative to request them not to stick to this demand," he said.
Khinsvar hopes that the fact that Rajasthan is also plagued by water shortage in summer does not result in another outrage or a PIL.
"The pitch is watered 365 days a year, how come these questions arise only when matches happen? How come no one is asking why lawns, parks and gardens are still being watered?
"I would request everyone not to raise such issues in the best interests of cricket. Of course, we will promote the use of sewage water for ground maintenance," he added.
The other Maharashtra franchise Rising Pune Supergiants had opted for Vishakapatnam as their alternative home ground. The BHC has given the nod for Pune to host the match between RPSG and MI as scheduled on May 1, after BCCI moved the court citing logistical difficulties.
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