Indian Premier League: Rajasthan Government Clears Jaipur For Three Matches

Jaipur will now host three home matches for the Mumbai Indians after the Bombay High Court barred the Indian Premier League to hold Twenty20 games in Maharashtra due to the drought situation in the state.

Critics say many parts of Rajasthan are facing a water crisis and the IPL matches should not be held in the desert state. But the government says the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, which has not seen a match for the past three years due to a tussle between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), will finally bring some games for cricket lovers.

The move comes in after the Bombay High Court told the BCCI to move IPL matches out of Maharashtra after April 30 due to severe drought situation in the state. Two IPL teams are based out of Maharashtra -- while the Mumbai Indians chose Jaipur as their alternative home, Rising Pune Supergiants opted to play their home matches in Visakhapatnam.

The Jaipur pitch remains under regular maintenance despite water scarcity and will now host three matches from May 5.

Jaipur had earlier been knocked off the cricket calendar after the BCCI suspended the RCA for electing former IPL chief Lalit Modi.

The matches will be held by the Sports Council of Rajasthan for which a committee will be set up. Significantly, the Modi-led RCA has promised support but will not be directly involved.

However, the opposition Congress has criticised the BJP-led government for holding matches in the peak of summer and organised a protest saying more than 13,000 villages are being supplied water through tankers, 11 districts are scarcity affected and ground water extraction in Jaipur has gone up by 22 percent in five years.

"We are not getting water in our colony in April, what will happen in May and June? And the governement wants to host IPL matches. Can't they find a solution to our water woes first?" said Sanjita Sihag, Jaipur's Youth Congress general secretary.

But the government disagrees and says that the pitch at the stadium is anyway watered 365 days a year.

"It is not because IPL is coming here that more quantum of water is going to be used, this maintenance has been going on," said Gajendra Singh Khimsar, sports minister of Rajasthan.

But with water scarcity setting in as summer approaches, the controversy over water used by cricket pitches could pick up pace in Jaipur.

(With inputs from Harsha Kumari Singh)