Mumbai: Nine months after the tragic stampede at M Chinnaswamy stadium that led to 11 loss of lives, cricket is set to return to the Bengaluru arena with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) slated to meet Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026’s season opener on March 28.
The announcement made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) though comes with a caveat. Matches in Bengaluru require clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka.
The committee will be conducting a meeting and inspection of the stadium on March 13 “during which a full-scale mock demonstration of match-day arrangements will be carried out to assess the stadium’s preparedness for hosting IPL matches,” according to a BCCI statement.
Following the unfortunate incident during the celebration function in the aftermath of RCB’s title win, the Justice D’Cunha report has south widening of gates to smoothen entry and exit points to the stadium. Chances of cricket returning to Chinnaswamy brightened after the new Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) dispensation led by Venkatesh Prasad worked earnestly with the state government to fulfill all safety requirements to the extent possible in the old stadium.
Defending champions RCB have announced that they will be playing five of their seven home matches in Bengaluru with two matches to be played in Raipur, this year. Runners up Punjab Kings is the other franchise to have chosen to play their home matches in more than one location – four in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur.
The scheduling has become a complex task this year with three host states set to undergo state assembly elections during this period. As a result, dates of only the first 20 matches of the 74 have been announced. A total of ten venues – Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad will be playing hosts in the first half of the league. Four of the sixteen playing days until April 12, will have four double headers. The first double-header of the season will take place on April 4 when Delhi Capitals face Mumbai Indians in the afternoon match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, followed by Gujarat Titans taking on Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
There will be considerable interest around the league with India’s newly crowned World Champions set to take the field, turning up for different franchises. Also because the big names to have retired from T20I cricket MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will also be taking centre stage – the only tournament, they are now seen playing the T20 format.
