Indian Premier League 2016: Bengaluru Likely to Host Final, Rising Pune Supergiants Give Vizag Preference

The final of the 2016 Indian Premier League could reportedly take place in Bengaluru following the decision of the Bombay High Court to shift all matches away from Maharashtra. (Moving IPL Matches Won't Solve Drought in Maharashtra: Gavaskar)

Rajeev Shukla, chairman of the IPL Governing Council, proposed that the first qualifier and the final would be shifted to Bengaluru while the second qualifier and the eliminator would be moved to Kolkata.

These are just recommendations and they will be ratified by the Indian Premier League Governing Council.

The two franchises involved, Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants, were given four different options for their new 'home' venues in a meeting between the franchises and IPL officials. They were Raipur, Visakhapatnam, Kanpur and Jaipur. Shukla stated that the choices of the teams would be put forward to the Governing Council

Pune has given Visakhapatnam as their preference while Mumbai Indians, the two-time IPL champions, will give their choice on April 17th.

The Bombay High Court had asked the BCCI on Wednesday to shift all the IPL matches after April 30 from Maharashtra due to the acute water crisis in the state. Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur were the three venues in Maharashtra scheduled to hold the IPL matches.

Maharashtra -- home to Rising Pune Supergiants and Mumbai Indians -- was to host 13 games after April 30, including the final in Mumbai. Kings XI Punjab had some matches scheduled in Jamtha, Nagpur in the month of May.

"Organising the IPL is a gigantic work. It's not easy. All preparations had been done, completed. Now shifting the matches will be a problem," Rajeev Shukla, IPL Chairman, had said after the verdict of the court.

"Maharashtra gains Rs 100 Cr from IPL and if the tournament goes out of the state, it will be a loss for the state," BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur had said.

A Mumbai-based NGO had petitioned the Court challenging the use of over 60 lakh litres of water to maintain pitches and sought shifting of IPL matches out of the State given the second successive drought it is experiencing.

The Maharashtra government had reiterated its stand that it was against the use of potable water during IPL matches, but also hinted at it wouldn't oppose the event if there was no misuse of water. Thakur went to the extent of saying that the Board was ready to use treated sewage water and it had no intention of using potable water during the IPL matches.