CHENNAI: Good news for all those Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fans. After days of speculations and dilly-dallying, RCB confirmed on Tuesday that it will return to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium for the 2026 IPL season. To put the icing on the cake, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) announced that the fabled venue will host this season's final, in addition to a playoff match.
The defending champions will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two home games at the Shahi Veer Narayan Singh stadium in Raipur.
"The first match, five league games, one play-off game and the final. This is what the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has committed to us. And probably they will announce their schedule shortly," KSCA Secretary Santosh Menon told in a press conference on Tuesday.
However, whether RCB play their home games first in Bengaluru or Raipur is yet to be decided. "In fact, I was trying to clarify the same thing with the RCB officials when we had a meeting (on Tuesday). It is not confirmed and we are going to wait for the schedule to be announced, Maybe we will know it in the 24-48 hours," KSCA president Venkatesh Prasad responded to a question, adding that the ground will be handed over once the scheduled is announced.
The KSCA's new managing committee led by Prasad had sought for conditional approval from the state government to host international matches. The KSCA have started maintaining the ground properly after state government's conditional approval in January. The ground had hosted some state-level age group cricket but not big games.
New arrangements in and around the stadium, as per the KSCA, will ensure that fan entry and exit is smooth. "We are ensuring that the number of gates are increased across the stadium for smooth flow of the spectators. We are going to ensure that we communicate to each and every spectator, each and every fan that the best way to commute to the stadium is through public transport, especially through the metro rail, which has got a lot of connectivity now," KSCA secretary Menon added.
RCB CEO Rajesh Menon expressed their delight in returning to the venue for the upcoming season.
“After detailed discussions and completing the necessary due process around permissions, we are pleased to confirm that RCB will play five matches in Bengaluru. We sincerely thank the Government of Karnataka, the KSCA, and the Karnataka Police for their support in making this possible,” RCB CEO said in a statement. It will come as a huge relief for the supporters as their premier venue will be hosting the event.
In June last year, a stampede in the victory parade of RCB's IPL title win at the premises of the stadium occurred, where 11 lives were lost. A month later, the one-man commission led by retired judge Michael D'Cunha found that the stadium is "unsuitable and unsafe for mass gatherings. Since then, the stadium has not hosted top-flight cricket.