IPL 2019: A peripheral brawl delays Rajasthan Royals' entry into the stadium

The 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 has begun with the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) starting their title-defence with an easy victory. Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Royals team, who will begin their IPL 2019 campaign on Monday, had to experience a minor tussle which forced Ajinkya Rahane and Co. to wait before they could enter the stadium.

The Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals team are set to open their account in the IPL 2019 against the Mohali-based franchise Kings XI Punjab, on March 25. The Royals have a strong record at home against the Punjab team, led by Ashwin, and will look forward to benefiting from it and start the new season of the marquee T2o League with an advantage.

The Rajasthan side is full of star performers like the English all-rounder Ben Stokes, power-hitter Jos Buttler, and the prodigy Jofra Archer. Moreover, the side will also see the return of the estranged king Steve Smith, who wasn’t allowed to participate in the previous edition of the IPL as BCCI barred from doing so due to his association in the ball-tampering incident that took place during Australia’s tour of South Africa last March. 

Players were allowed in after a half-an-hour delay

Coming back to the scuffle, the Rajasthan Royals faced right ahead of the training, on Saturday. The RR team including their skipper Ajinkya Rahane had to wait for some time before they were allowed inside the stadium for training in the run-up to their season-opener, against KXIP. Other franchises have also allowed free entry for their enthusiastic fans to witness their favourite players train ahead of the IPL starter.

The real cause of the tussle between Rajasthan sports council and Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) was that the stadium gates were locked. However, the matter was soon taken care of and the team was able to enter the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur after about a 30 minutes delay.

“Ajinkya Rahane and a few of the players wanted to go and train in the morning and they just had to wait for a bit for the gates to be opened. Took us hardly 25-30 minutes,” an RR official was quoted as saying by Times Now while explaining the gist of the incident.

Here’s Rajasthan Royals full squad for IPL 2019:

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