Power supply disconnected at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Hyderabad on the eve of CSK-SRH IPL 2024 clash

In a bizarre development, the power supply to the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad was cut by the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL) from 8 pm on Thursday, April 4.

This comes a night before the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) face off in a crucial IPL 2024 encounter at the venue on Friday, April 5. The supply was disconnected owing to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) not paying the electricity bill.

An HCA official confirmed the "power being cut at 8 PM on April 4" to South First and that alternate arrangements were being made for the CSK-SRH game the following day.

The TSSPDCL superintending engineer for operations sent a notice to the HCA on February 20 for the payment of the unpaid charges of around ₹1.63 crore within 15 days.

Per reports from The South First, the issue originated in 2022 when TSSPDCL sent a notice to HCA to settle a substantial outstanding bill of around ₹3.05 crore.

The stadium management subsequently filed a petition against the issued notice in the Telangana High Court. In response, the Judge gave an order to the TSSPDCL to restore the power supply subject to the HCA paying 50 percent of the due amount of ₹1.41 crore.

While the HCA paid the due charges in the next couple of months, they requested the TSSPDCL management to waive the ₹1.63 crore surcharge due to the absence of cricketing activities at the stadium in the aftermath of COVID-19.

However, the TSSPDCL declined the same and cited that the regulations allowed no such reliefs.

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CSK and SRH are coming off defeats in their previous outings

Back to the on-field action, CSK and SRH are coming off convincing defeats in their latest outings of IPL 2024.

While CSK suffered a 20-run loss to the Delhi Capitals (DC), their first of the season, SRH went down to the Gujarat Titans (GT) by seven wickets. However, CSK are still comfortably placed third on the points table with two wins in three outings.

Meanwhile, SRH are entering must-win territory, even if it's early in the season, after losing two of their three games. Yet, they can take solace from having won their lone outing at home by recording the highest-ever IPL score of 277/3 against the Mumbai Indians (MI).

Both sides are led by first-time IPL captains, Ruturaj Gaikwad (CSK) and Pat Cummins (SRH).