New Delhi’s Ferozshah Kotla stadium will host the eliminator and the second qualifier of the ninth IPL instead of Eden Gardens, the IPL Governing body announced on Friday.
The body also decided to have Visakhapatnam as the common main venue for Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants, in the wake of the Supreme Court dismissing the plea of Maharashtra and Mumbai Cricket Associations against the Bombay High Court order directing shifting of IPL matches outside the drought-hit state.
“The main reason to shift one of the qualifiers and eliminator from Eden Gardens is that the time duration is too short between the last home match of KKR scheduled for 22 May and the qualifier. It would be difficult to make logistical arrangements,” IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said.
Speaking about the reason behind not opting for Jaipur as an alternate venue, Shukla attributed it to the PIL whose hearing is scheduled for 3 May.
We wanted to have matches at in Jaipur and were getting lots of support from state government, but since next hearing of PIL is on 3 May, we would have only got five days to arrange the matches. That could have created logistical problems.Rajeev Shukla, IPL Chairman
While the Eliminator is scheduled for 25 May, the second
Qualifier will be held on May 27.
(With inputs from PTI)
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