The Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati will make its IPL debut in the forthcoming season of the T20 tournament after the IPL governing council granted the Rajasthan Royals permission to host the first two of their seven home games. The Royals will welcome Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders at their new home venue on April 5 and 8 respectively. Both the games will be 8 PM games, as per the council’s decision to maintain the 4 PM and 8 PM start times for the afternoon and evening games for the season.
This is not the first case of the Royals representing their home matches away from their home at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. They have before attempted away during the 2010 (Ahmedabad) and 2015 (Ahmedabad and Mumbai-Brabourne Stadium) seasons and have endeavored more different venues to maximize their footprint adjacent to the obvious advantage of enhanced footfall and gate receipt – the Jaipur Stadium has a max capacity under 30,000.
For this season, the franchise reviewed multiple stadiums in Trivandrum, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai to play their optional home matches before penciling in on Guwahati. The winners of the inaugural season of the competition are also programmed to entertain a pre-tournament preliminary camp in Guwahati. The Steve Smith-led Rajasthan Royals open their 2020 campaign away to Chennai Super Kings on April 2 before their journey to the North East of India.
