IPL schedule to be tweaked? Rajasthan Royals' home ground sealed by authorities after IPL 2024 schedule is released

In a recent development, the Rajasthan State Sports Council has sealed the only international cricket stadium based in Jaipur – the Sawai Man Singh stadium yesterday after the state’s cricket association failed to pay their remaining dues to the governing body of sports.

That means, IPL 2008 winners Rajasthan Royals might not be able to play in front of their home crowd when the Indian Premier League 2024 kicks off, and there is very little clarity about it right now.

Rajasthan Royals are slated to play their opening match of the new season against KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants at the Sawai Man Singh stadium on March 24th. In the IPL schedule released by the BCCI for the first 21 matches, Rajasthan are in line to play another 2 matches at their home venue against the Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Why has the SMS stadium been sealed?

According to reports, the Rajasthan Cricket Association did not pay its dues and liabilities to the sports council of the state for which the latter organization’s secretary Sohan Ram Choudhary even sent a notice to the RCA about the same. However, upon no response from the cricketing body, the Rajasthan Sports Council sent another notice that asked RCA to handover their property at the Sawai Man Singh stadium including the local cricket academy.

But the sports council did not get any response from the RCA despite back-to-back notices and after that, it was decided that the SMS stadium in Jaipur would be ultimately sealed. The state sports council secretary Sohan Ram Choudhary while speaking to media outlets, revealed that RCA had received a bumper sum of INR 200 crore and their reluctancy to pay their respective dues to the sports council was the reason why their property was sealed.

“We had sent them (RCA) numerous notices but there was no reply from their end. They only replied to increase the MoU to 10 years from eight years. They had liabilities and they did not fulfill them. We have sat down with RCA to find a solution.” – Rajasthan sports council secretary told PTI. 

“They received approximately Rs 200 crores but told us that they haven’t received the sum. They had a lot of money during the Rajasthan Premier League but they did not adhere to the MoU and did not deposit the money, that’s why we had to take this step.” – Sohan Ram added. 

No impact on Rajasthan Royals’ IPL 2024 games

Sohan Ram Choudhary went on to further state that the decision will not hamper the Sawai Man Singh stadium’s hopes of hosting Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2024. He claimed that the SMS stadium was Rajasthan sports council’s property and they just happened to take it back but there will not be any obstacles in terms of organizing IPL as well as international matches.

“This is our premise and we just took it back. The IPL matches will happen and all other national and international matches will also happen and the players will get all the facilities.” – Sohan Ram concluded.