IPL 2018: IPL chairman confirms Pune as CSK's home venue; Dhoni the reason?

IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla has confirmed that Pune will host all the remaining home matches of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) this season. Their fairytale homecoming at the Chepauk last night was restricted to just one match as severe protests during the game forced the organisers to take the decision on Wednesday. Cauvery water issue has boiled a lot and even shoes were hurled on the ground during the game which almost hit the likes of Faf du Plessis and Ravindra Jadeja.

There were reports earlier that  Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Pune and Trivandrum were the venues shortlisted as the home venue for the Men in Yellow. Though Chennai police had beefed up the security for the game, things went out of hands at one stage as they had to arrest few political party members as well.

Dhoni was in favour in Pune?

Rajiv Shukla, the chairman of the T20 tournament, cleared that Chennai police were unable to provide security to all the matches after what happened on Tuesday. “The matches had to be shifted out of Chennai as police had said that they were unable to provide security in the prevailing situation. CSK is not averse to shifting base to Pune,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

However, it is being believed that MS Dhoni was well known with the conditions in Pune having played at the venue in the last couple of the now defunct franchise Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) which played part in finalising the decision. Also, Vizag lacks direct flights and Pune has a better connectivity.

“Captain Dhoni knows the conditions well and logistically it made sense to have Pune as the new venue instead of Visakhapatnam. There are only a few direct flights available from Vizag. If the team has to travel to Indore, then they had to reach Indore via Delhi. Pune has better connectivity, so it was decided that CSK shift base to Pune,” the source said according to News 18.

CSK will play their next home game at MCA Stadium on April 20 against Rajasthan Royals.

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