Raipur, Jan 13 (IANS) With the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) unlikely to play their home matches at their regular venue. Chinnaswamy, they will be hosting their matches at other venues, and officials have claimed two of those matches will be played in Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

The news that two of RCB's IPL 2026 matches will be played in Raipur was relayed by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai in a social media post on X, formerly Twitter.

The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister also announced this during his address at a public function in Kharora in Raipur district.

"We have a very good cricket stadium in Chhattisgarh, and all top-level players, who have visited it, including the great Sachin Tendulkar, have told me it is a great stadium and praised its facilities. You have recently watched a match at this stadium, and I am told more matches will be played at it. I have recently met with the CEO and other officials of RCB, and we have decided that two IPL matches will be held in Chhattisgarh," he said.

On Tuesday, the chief minister held a meeting with Prabhtej Singh, joint-secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and Rajesh Menon, vice-president of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), in Raipur, at which they discussed the possibility of hosting IPL matches in Chhattisgarh and various issues related to it.

During the meeting, the local officials impressed upon the RCB vice-president that Chhattisgarh has a top-class stadium in New Raipur, which has hosted international matches and will be hosting a T20I match against New Zealand on January 23.

On the occasion, the RCB officials also presented a team jersey to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai.

The IPL Governing Council will soon release the full match schedule for IPL 2026. Besides RCB, the Rajasthan Royals are also planning to host their matches at other venues instead of their home ground, the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur.

--IANS

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