IPL 2026: SMS Stadium upgradation work begins

Jaipur: Ever since the deadlock ended over hosting the Rajasthan Royals' IPL matches a few days ago, govt authorities have swung into action and a flurry of activities have already begun here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium for the upgradation of the venue.The Rajasthan Royals have officially agreed to host four of their IPL 2026 home matches at the SMS Stadium. Till last year, Royals used to play five out of their seven home matches in the Pink City.The landmark decision follows a high-level meeting between RR chairperson Ranjit Barthakur and Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma, which effectively ended a long stalemate over stadium safety and administrative hurdles.Rajasthan chief secretary V Srinivas and his team of officials visited the SMS Stadium on Monday afternoon and inspected all the facilities.Srinivas had a close look at the ongoing repairing work and walked down the entire stretch of ground and stands and enquired about every minute details of the ongoing work.Rajasthan State Sports Council chairman Neeraj K Pawan, RR vice president Rajeev Khanna and PWD officials accompanied the CS even as groundsmen and other labourers were involved in the work.To address the Royals' specific concerns over stadium safety and infrastructure, the state govt had commissioned a formal structural audit from the PWD after RR had their independent audit conducted by Tata Projects, which highlighted ‘severe deficiencies' in fire safety and structural integrity.Despite both the audits, PWD is again doing the structural audit at nine different spots of the stadium to make sure the venue is absolutely safe for hosting the high-profile IPL games. The PWD officials briefed Srinivas about the ongoing load bearing testing of the stands and their progress.After a half an hour inspection of the stadium, Srinivas had a long close-door meeting with RR, RSSC and PWD officials discussing various aspects regarding how to make the stadium ready for the big event.According to the sources, Srinivas had instructed the concerned officials to look after the work minutely and update him on a daily basis about the work being carried out in the premises.