Guwahati: Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) are set to arrive in Guwahati on Monday ahead of their match on April 5 at the ACA Barsapara Stadium.
This comes after Guwahati was given the opportunity to host an IPL game for the first time which was confirmed when the current season’s schedule was made public on February 17. The home stadium for the Rajasthan Royals for two IPL games would be the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati.
According to reports, Punjab Kings landed in Guwahati today around 4 p.m. They took a special flight with the flight number G8-151 from Delhi to the airport in Borjhar.
On the other hand, the home club Rajasthan Royals arrived in Guwahati today. Their SG-9321 flight from Hyderabad is scheduled to touch down at roughly 5.30 p.m.
Both teams will travel directly to their lodgings from the airport. The Vivanta Hotel in Guwahati’s Khanapara area will house the Punjab Kings while the Radisson Blu Hotel is where the Rajasthan Royals will stay.
Guwahati was one of the locations chosen to host two games when the IPL revealed its season schedule on February 17. This implied that cricket fans in the northeastern city will finally have access to the IPL.
The first of the two IPL games will take place in Guwahati on April 5 when Rajasthan Royals take on Punjab Kings (Wednesday). The game will start at 7.30 p.m.
Also, the second IPL game between the Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals will be played on April 8 (Saturday), two days later. The game is scheduled for 3:30 PM.
It should be noted that the Assam Cricket Association and IPL team Rajasthan Royals have a partnership and Rajasthan Royals also supports young cricket in Guwahati.
Speaking about it ACA President Taranga Gogoi had said, “Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were talks of organising an IPL match in Guwahati. However, the plans were shelved during the pandemic as the IPL had to shifted to Dubai and was only played at selected venues.”
He said, “Assam Cricket Association has always wanted to host an IPL match in Guwahati and as there are no northeast based teams in the IPL, we requested Rajasthan Royals to consider Guwahati as their home ground. On their behalf, a team came to inspect the ground and the facilities available.”