MCA moves to Supreme Court to hold IPL matches in Maharashtra

The water crisis and the news surrounding it during this IPL don’t seem to end. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s order to move the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches out of the city due to drought in the state.

Earlier this month the Bombay High Court had ordered the IPL committee to shift all matches to be played in Maharashtra (Pune, Mumbai, and Nagpur) post April 30 out of the state following the drought conditions in Maharashtra.

Following the order, the franchises of Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, and Rising Pune Supergiants picked up Dharamsala, Jaipur, and Vizag as their alternate venues. But another PIL was filed at the Rajasthan High Court questioning the shifting of home matches of Mumbai to Jaipur. Rajasthan High Court pulled up the state government and asked it to reply how it can allow IPL to be held when the state was facing acute shortage of water.

Now the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) and Maharashtra Cricket Association have filed a joint Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to allow IPL matches to be held according to the original schedule in Maharashtra. The SLP was filed at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

“We are not against people of Maharashtra and have full sympathy with them,” quoted senior advocate Kapil Sibal who is appearing for MCA.

Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium is the home ground for the defending champions Mumbai Indians while the MCA Stadium in Pune is the base for the newcomers Rising Pune Supergiants.

Read also – Kings XI Punjab opts Dharamsala as second home