Exhibit 1: March 26—Rajasthan Royals (RR) played their ‘home’ match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Guwahati. The distance between Jaipur and Guwahati is almost double of that between Kolkata and Guwahati. West Bengal and Assam are neighbouring states, and there are a lot of similarities between the languages spoken there. Even the pitch offered for the match played into KKR’s hands, making one wonder what home advantage RR accrued by travelling almost 2,000 km from Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Exhibit 2: March 30—Delhi Capitals (DC) played their ‘home’ match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Visakhapatnam. The distance between Delhi and Visakhapatnam is almost three times that of Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. In fact, till just over a decade ago, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam were parts of the same state. Needless to say, there was more support in the stands for the ‘away’ team even though DC came out winners on the field.

It goes without saying that such scheduling decisions are taken not with the sporting prospects of the designated home team foremost in mind. It’s the prerogative of the IPL franchise owners to play their home matches wherever they deem fit if the BCCI is also on the same page. An argument could also be made of spreading the league and the game beyond its traditional bastions.

But it’s probably not surprising that the teams that have acquired the biggest fan following in the league—Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians........

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