Rajasthan Royals likely to play IPL 2026 home matches at Punes MCA Stadium; Heres why
Rajasthan Royals likely to play their IPL 2026 home matches at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals (RR) are likely to shift their home matches for the upcoming IPL 2026 season to Pune's Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium. According to a RevSportz report, RR's usual home ground, the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, has failed to comply with safety norms.
The franchise is set to divide its seven home matches of the 2026 edition between the MCA Stadium and the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati. RR hosts its few home matches in Guwahati every year. Earlier, it was also reported that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were also in contention to use the Pune stadium for their home matches after the Karnataka government had deemed the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru as dangerous for hosting large gatherings.
However, the situation has changed now as the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) is hopeful of hosting the IPL matches at the ground. The issue reported is about Jaipur's stadium infrastructure, but the RR and the Rajasthan Cricket Association had much deeper problems in the past.
BCCI's ultimatum to Rajasthan Cricket Association
Jaydeep Bihani, who is the convener of the RCA’s ad-hoc committee, alleged that the match between the Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) was fixed. Later, the franchise denied the allegation and a senior BCCI official also dismissed the accusation as baseless in off-the-record remarks to the media.
Recently, the BCCI also took a stand against the state board and issued an ultimatum that Rajasthan will get no IPL matches at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium until it resolves its governance crisis. IPL chairman Arun Dhumal also reiterated that the RCA must hold long-pending elections, which are in line with BCCI guidelines; failing which might result in Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium not hosting IPL matches.
The association has been operated by ad-hoc committees for almost two years, a situation that clearly violates BCCI norms. However, the state board is set to appoint a third ad-hoc committee in two years after the current panel failed to conduct elections.
The MCA Stadium, which was formerly home to the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), has not hosted any IPL match in the last three seasons. The stadium's last appearance came in 2022 when the tournament was held across limited venues in Mumbai and Pune, while the Playoffs were played in Kolkata and Ahmedabad.