IPL 2018: Delhi Daredevils' home games could be shifted out of Kotla

After Chennai Super Kings‘ home matches were shifted from Chennai to Pune on Wednesday, the Delhi Daredevils’ home games at the Feroze Shah Kotla could face the same future. If the Delhi High Court doesn’t permit the official broadcaster to telecast the Indian Premier League (IPL) games out of the old clubhouse, the home matches could be shifted out of the city.

Daredevils’ CEO Hemant Dua and Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) had a meeting at Kotla, wherein the majority said that a live telecast away from the bowlers’ arm would be a compromise that could mean Delhi lose its share of IPL matches. Meanwhile, Kanpur, Rajkot, Indore and Raipur are being considered as alternate venues, as per reports. With the court case scheduled on April 18, DDCA has decided to move a plea in the Delhi High Court on Friday itself because it would be too late to make any arrangement if the decision comes on Wednesday.

DDCA planning their course of action

It is also likely that the plea will state that DDCA won’t push for spectators inside the old clubhouse building, but will request the court to allow the broadcaster and media to be allowed inside. As per TOI sources said that BCCI has given a Friday deadline for DDCA to come out with a stay order. Otherwise, they will be forced to move out the Delhi matches from Kotla.

With the court-appointed Justice (retd) Vikramjit Sen at the helm of affairs, one hopes that the DDCA gets a favourable verdict from the court. However, if by chance, DDCA fails to put together a plea by Friday, there are plans for making it happen on Monday. If worse comes to worst, DDCA is also okay with the idea of allowing only the camera gantry inside the old clubhouse and possibly moving the commentary and media box into some enclosure.

However, nearly 5,000 seats won’t be available for spectators and in turn may lead to a huge revenue loss for the franchise. Even if both media and broadcast teams are allowed to function through the old clubhouse, the franchisee stands to lose revenue as over 2300 seats won’t be made available to the public.

Among the plans that are supposed to be proposed in the court include mentioning that media and broadcasting team won’t put a lot of load on the building. Along with that, there will also be the proposal of creating a commentary box on the first floor to ease the pressure on the second floor with 50 to 60 media personal and broadcaster control room at the ground floor.

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