Move matches from Maharashtra: Bombay HC

A division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice MS Karnik has granted BCCI and other Cricket Associations 15 days to make all arrangements to shift out.

“It will be better if the IPL matches are held outside Maharashtra” the High Court told in a judgement. 

The bench observed that shifting of IPL matches alone won’t solve the problem alone but it can be a beginning so that water used for pitches can be diverted to affected areas. 

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by NGO Loksatta Movement points out that at a time when the state is reeling through the worst kind of drought in a century and is facing acute shortage of water as the level of water in dams and lakes in the State has gone down, 60 lakhs litres of water is being wasted for maintaining the cricket pitches for the IPL.

This means that six matches in Pune, four in Mumbai and three in Nagpur (13 matches in total) will have to be moved outside the state. 

The Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and the final will be moved.