They finished ninth on the points table last season.
Amid constant rumours of tension between the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), the Indian Premier League team was on the hunt for a new home base. Reportedly, the RR IPL 2026 home will move from the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur to the MCA Stadium in Pune.
In IPL 2025, an official from RCA accused RR of match-fixing, which the franchise clearly denied. In an obvious turn of events, the Royals officially approached the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA).
During the last season, Sanju Samson & Co. played two of their seven home games at the Baraspara Stadium in Guwahati. Once the deal is officially announced by either RR or MCA, the team is expected to play at least four games at the new base. The rest of the matches would be held in Guwahati.
An MCA official had earlier revealed their discussions with the IPL team.
An MCA official said, “Yes, they were here to find out details about the capacity of the stadium, the nature of the pitches, and hotels in the city. Our president, Rohit Pawar, is very keen that the IPL returns to the city. He is making all possible efforts.”
Last season, Rajasthan Royals won only one match in Jaipur and lost four. On the other hand, they won and lost one each in Guwahati. Their win percentage from 80 in 2024 in Jaipur dropped to 20%. At the new RR IPL 2026 home, they would be keen to start afresh and revamp their statistics.
Overall, the franchise has hit headlines for multiple reasons throughout the off-season. It started with the transfer news of Ravindra Radeja and Sam Curran in exchange for their previous skipper, Sanju Samson. Later, Rahul Dravid stepped down from coaching duties, and Kumar Sangakkara took over. Rajasthan Royals made some more changes in their support staff ahead of the IPL 2026 auction.
Of late, their latest recruit, Ravi Singh, has garnered attention after his performances in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26. In a latest behind-the-scenes video, Rajasthan Royals revealed their game plan for the auction and how they expected RCB to bid for the same.
Retained players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Lhuan Dre-Pretorius, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Ravindra Jadeja (traded), Sam Curran (traded), Donovan Ferreira (traded), Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma, Yudhvir Singh, Kwena Maphaka, and Nandre Burger.
Players bought in auction: Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur, Ravi Singh, Aman Rao, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne, and Kuldeep Sen.
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Owned by The Royals Sports Group, RR were not the only team looking for another home ground. Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the defending champions, were also planning to relocate. This came after a stampede in the city during the victory parade and trophy event at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. It led to at least 11 lives lost.
Speaking about RCB’s change of base, the official continued, “The interest from RCB is genuine, but there is no guarantee they will relocate. Any such move will depend on a host of factors.”
Understandably, there’s also been rumours of a change of ownership from Diageo India Private Limited. Owing to their global fanbase and a continuous association with Virat Kohli since the inaugural IPL season, RCB have become a legacy team. They put an end to their trophy drought in the previous season, further adding to their charm of the team. Changing home base outside of Bengaluru would be difficult without hurting the sentiments of the fans. Moreover, there has been no official announcement from the franchise. From MCA’s perspective, the move of RR IPL 2026 home has made more sense, and they’re likely to sign the deal.
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