Reports: Delhi Capitals will not play first two home matches at Arun Jaitley Stadium

Delhi Capitals will not be playing their first two home games in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The schedule for the 17th edition of the cash-rich league is going to be announced at 5:30 PM (IST) on Thursday, February 22.

The Capitals had a forgettable campaign in 2023 as they finished ninth on the points table with just five wins and as many as nine losses from 14 games. They will look to erase the memories of last year and start strong in IPL 2024. The Delhi-based franchise will also have Rishabh Pant back in their ranks and that will certainly give them a major boost. However, they will not be playing their first two home games at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

The Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) has written a mail to the BCCI regarding the hosting of their first two home matches in Pune and Cuttack, respectively. According to reports, this decision has been taken by DDCA to give adequate time to the curators to prepare the pitches.

It is important to note that Delhi will be co-hosting the second season of the Women's Premier League (WPL) along with Bengaluru. The WPL ends on March 17, while the IPL is scheduled to begin on March 22. Therefore, the curators would have had a very tedious task in store for them if they had to prepare pitches for the IPL within such a short period.

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11 WPL matches will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium within 13 days in the second phase of the tournament.

“Delhi’s first two games will be moved to Pune and Cuttack, we have informed the BCCI about it,” a DDCA official told The Indian Express.

“The reason is WPL. We will be hosting a total of 11 matches in two weeks and with IPL starting from March 22 the first IPL match in Delhi was supposed to take place on March 24, so we don’t have enough time to prepare pitches. The BCCI has agreed to shift the first two matches and has also given us some breathing space,” he said.

DDCA faced a similar problem during Ranji Trophy 2024 as they had to shift three of their home games in order to prepare pitches for the WPL.

“We have been struggling with the venues in this season. Out of four home matches, we have played one match at the Arun Jaitely Stadium. The matches against Baroda and Odisha were moved as we’re preparing pitches for the WPL and now we are facing the same issue with the IPL,” said the official.

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