BCCI-RCA in tussle over Rajasthan Royals' home games

A day after the fixtures for the second leg of IPL 7 were released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the Rajasthan Cricket Association claimed it was not consulted before allotting Rajasthan Royals' home games to Ahmedabad.

While the RCA said it was not kept in the loop while scheduling the Royals’ four home matches, the BCCI responded by saying that the Jaipur-based franchise was happy with the decision.

"The Rajasthan Royals have indicated to the BCCI that they are happy to play their four home matches of the India leg of the 2014 season at Ahmedabad to avoid any uncertainty to their home matches," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said.

"KXIP [King XI Punjab] and CSK [Chennai Super Kings] will be playing some of their home matches outside Mohali and Chennai respectively, due to the non-availability of their home venue, for a large portion of May 2014," he added.

Earlier on Friday, the RCA wrote to Interim BCCI president for the IPL, Sunil Gavaskar, questioning the Governing Council's decision to shift the matches without their permission and demanded return of hosting rights of Rajasthan Royals’ home games.

"Sir, we are surprised how governing council of IPL has shifted our home matches to Ahmedabad without even asking us. We shall suffer losses for the perpetration made as well as people of Rajasthan shall lose their right to see the home team perform in front of them," RCA Officiating Secretary K K Sharma said in the letter.

"We would request you to kindly reschedule the itinerary and give us the due home matches as earlier," he said.

The BCCI then said it had worked with various stakeholders before arriving at a final decision.

"Hosting IPL involves elaborate planning on several fronts, logistics included. It is critical that there is surety on the availability of the match venues, for a tournament of this magnitude. The BCCI has worked with various franchises and stakeholders to get confirmations to host matches in the cities," read a statement from the BCCI.

"IPL will continue to look at as many venues as possible to play the tournament in forthcoming seasons," it added.

Image: Rajasthan Royals owners Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra during an IPL-6 match

Photograph: BCCI