Ahead of Rajasthan Royals hosting the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Lucknow Super Gants (LSG) on March 24 in Jaipur, the Rajasthan State Sports Council has sealed the Royals' home ground SMS stadium, alongside the RCA office and academy on Wednesday. The reason for the stated process is said to be the result of the failure of the association to renew the MoU as well as to repay the debt of ₹34 crores.
The RCA was reportedly asked to renew the MoU with the RSSC but the latter denied the procedure. This led the state council to seal the Rajasthan Cricket Association office with the academy, alongside the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, which is set to host the upcoming IPL matches.
According to the sports officer Karan Singh’s statement to ANI, “MoU has ended. We have sent them notices many times. ₹34 crore is due and hence we are here to take possession (of the academy and stadium), the process, which is required to renew the MoU once it ended wasn’t done.”
Request was sent to RSSC before final date: RCA President
Rajasthan Cricket Association President Vaibhav Gehlot claimed that they had already sent the request to extend the MoU to the Rajasthan State Sports Council and the legal fight over a monetary case is going on in the court.
According to Vaibhav’s statement to ANI, “We have sent a request that the MoU should be extended but it wasn’t extended. We received notice two days back that the academy (RCA) and the stadium (Sawai Man Singh) will be seized by the sports council. The monetary case between RCA and the sports council is in court.”
Rajasthan Royals is set to host three matches in Jaipur, according to the partial schedule released by the BCCI on February 22.