BENGALURU: To be inside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium 24 hours before the opening day of the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was to witness a group project finally come to fruition. A coat of paint was still wet. The smell of acrylic lingered. Sheets of plywood was being fixed. Some pipes, lying on the ground one minute, were being assembled the next. Brand new logos decorated the walls. The gates were much wider than before. Workers, most of them with some kind of IPL-associated lanyard hanging around their necks, were hurriedly finishing their lunches before scurrying off to hammer another nail somewhere.
But nowhere was this change as pronounced as at the old National Cricket Academy. In it's place lay a transparent green sheet. Roughly the size of half a football field, this was going to be the holding area, where a large number of match-going fans would be ushered in on Saturday and all subsequent match days at this famous, old stadium.
It's why it's hard to talk about the IPL and Saturday's opener — Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad — without addressing what's at stake. Sure, there's two points up for grabs. But, in reality, it's a stress test facing the city's biggest mass sporting cathedral. In the immediate aftermath of the stampede during RCB's title celebrations in June 2025, an existential crisis gripped this venue. Eleven people, part of the RCB fabric, wanted to celebrate. They didn't return home that night. Everywhere you looked, there was a reminder about that tragic June 4 evening, including a plaque memorialising the dead right next to the KSCA office.
Never again, the authorities told themselves. It's why the Stadium resembled a group project nearing completion. Santosh Menon, the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), part of the elected office bearers in December, were handed this crisis. They knew they had zero time to waste if Chinnaswamy had to see cricket in the Summer, a part of the city's identity for almost every year since 2008.
"It's been a challenging two months," Menon tells this daily. With Venkatesh Prasad as president of the state body, they had the buy-in of the government and the fans. But getting the buy-in was just the first step of the process. After formal two-way communications, the association said they would implement all the changes needed to ensure the safety and security of fans in a three-tiered manner.
Phase 1 before the IPL. Phase 2 within a year and phase 3 a long-term project. A lot of the phase-1 based changes pertains to the smooth flow of fans to and from the venue. Gates have been expanded to at least 6m (9m in a lot of places), multiple holding areas have been identified for spectators inside the venue to ensure there is no crowding on the road and Queen's Road has, by and large, been freed.
"New gates have been put," Menon says. "Also, there's gangways for all stands. We have ensured that there will be no overlap, no rushing." The holding areas, Menon says, will also ensure that ticket verification happens inside the Stadium. Typically, on a Bengaluru matchday, Queen's Road sees a lot of fans. Not anymore. "Cubbon Road is broader and there will be seven gates. There are four gates on Link Road and only two on Queen's."
400-450 AI cameras
While all of this was done by KSCA, RCB, for their part, have practically made this venue an AI-first zone. Menon says the franchise has put some 400-450 AI cameras around the Stadium. "We have about 450 AI cameras (encircling the Stadium)," Menon says. The objective behind these cameras is multi-pronged. It will send the organisers instant alerts if there's congestion in an area or if the turnstiles are not working. Because there's facial recognition, it will also keep out the ones you don't want to come, according to Menon.
Nothing has been left to chance. They have even redone the lighting around the Stadium. They have also had a couple of mock drills to see if it was foolproof.
Nothing, though, can compare to the real thing. When dusk falls on this city on Saturday, over 30000 fans (the only tickets available for the game are on viagogo and the asking rate ranges from `12000 to `66000) will breathe as one again. Shouts of 'Are-Cee-Bee', 'Are-Cee-Bee' will bounce off the stands and reverberate.
But there will also be a profound sadness, a sadness only time can heal.