Delhi Capitals will not play its first two home matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at its home ground, Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The schedule for the 17th edition of the cash-rich league will be announced on Thursday, February 22 at 5:30 PM (IST).

The 2023 season was not that good for the Capitals as they finished ninth on the points table with only five wins and nine losses from 14 matches. They would like to erase the memories of last year and make a strong comeback in IPL 2024. The good thing for the Delhi franchise is that the team’s star wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant will make a comeback and this will definitely give them a big boost. However, they will not play their first two home matches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has written a mail to BCCI regarding hosting its first two home matches in Pune and Cuttack respectively. According to reports, DDCA has taken this decision to give adequate time to the curators to prepare the pitches.

DDCA asked for time from BCCI to prepare the pitch

If Indian Express is to be believed, DDCA has written, ‘The final match of WPL Season Two will be played on March 17 and IPL is going to start from March 22. In such a situation, the pitch cannot be prepared within 5 days. The first match of Delhi Capitals was to be held on March 24 at its home ground. In such a situation, DDCA will not have enough time to prepare the pitch. This is the reason why BCCI has been informed to conduct it in Pune and Cuttack. BCCI has also accepted this demand of DDCA.

According to DDCA, DDCA had to face a lot of problems for the Ranji Trophy match also. Out of four Ranji Trophy matches, Delhi team was able to play only one match on its home ground. The matches to be played against Baroda and Odisha had to be shifted earlier because the pitch had to be prepared for the WPL. The same problem is going to happen in IPL also.