IPL 2016: Maharashtra teams reveal preferred alternate venues

Mumbai Indians have opted to see their IPL 2016 matches being hosted by Jaipur from the start of May. Rising Pune Supergiants have already selected Visakhapatnam as the venue for their matches.

As many as 19 matches scheduled to be hosted over three cities in Maharashtra need to be played at alternate venues after April 30, the Bombay High Court had ruled last week. With little time to find a back-up plan, the BCCI asked the two Maharashtra-based IPL franchisees — Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants — to decide between Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Jaipur and Kanpur.

"We had given Mumbai Indians three options — Jaipur, Kanpur and Raipur. Mumbai Indians told us they would like to play their home matches at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur," IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India. "Accordingly, the IPL and IMG officials will be going to Rajasthan tomorrow [Tuesday, April 19] in order to speak to the state government."

The requests for seeing the matches played in Jaipur and Visakhapatnam will get official status once the IPL governing council gives it a go-ahead. It is expected that an official confirmation could come by the end of this week.

Apart from this, the BCCI has also said it will appeal to the Bombay High Court to allow the match between Rising Pune Supergiants and Mumbai Indians go ahead as per schedule at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune on May 1.

Pune play their home game against Gujrat Lions just two days prior to the return leg of the IPL 2016 Maharashtra derby.