Its schedule thrown haywire after the Bombay High Court ordered the shifting of 13 IPl matches out of drought-hit Maharashtra, the cash-rich league on Friday picked Bengaluru as the venue for its finale and offered four alternate home options to the state's affected franchises.
In a meeting between IPl Chairman Rajeev Shukla and representatives of the Rising Pune Supergiants and Mumbai Indians, it was decided to allot IPl's final and the first Qualifier to Bengaluru.
The second Qualifier and the Eliminator, on the other hand, have been proposed to be moved to Kolkata to implement the Bombay High Court's order that asked the BCCI to shift all the IPl matches after April 30 from Maharashtra due to the acute water crisis in the state.
In Friday’s meeting, the two affected franchises were asked to pick from Raipur, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam and Kanpur as their alternate home base.
While Pune opted for Visakhapatnam, Mumbai Indians sought two days' time to choose their new base.
The logistical crisis was triggered despite the BCCI assurance to the High Court that IPl franchises of Mumbai and Pune had agreed to contribute Rs five crore each to CM's drought relief fund.
Shukla also stated that the BCCI will plead before the HC to allow the May 1 clash between Mumbai and Pune to go ahead in Pune as the home franchise will be playing a game in the city on April 29.
The Rajasthan Cricket Association has been banned by the BCCI for factionalism but Shukla said the venue will be available for IPl as the offer to host has come from the state government.
Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur were the three venues in Maharashtra holding IPl matches before a Public Interest litigation was filed, alleging wastage of water in maintenance of pitches.
Shukla had gone to the extent of stating that Board could not have done anything more than this.
However, taking a contrary view, Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia, who was among the first to advocate shifting of matches, had welcomed the Court order, saying that he was glad that sensitivities of the drought-affected people in Maharashtra were being respected.
BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur had said that there was an attempt to create negativity around the league.
The sentiment had found support former captains Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar as well, both of whom felt that IPl and cricket had become soft targets to generate controversies.