Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Saturday (March 28, 2026) honoured the fans who lost their lives in the 2025 stampede by reserving 11 seats at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru ahead of their first Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Notably, these seats are set to remain permanently unoccupied during all IPL and international matches. Ahead of the IPL 2026 opener, players from both RCB and SRH also observed a one-minute silence to pay tribute to the fans who lost their lives in 2025.

For the unversed, 11 fans died, and several were injured in the stampede caused outside the stadium during the victory celebrations following RCB’s first IPL title win. Cricket at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium had been suspended since June 2025. During the tournament opener against the Hyderabad-based franchise, the defending champions, RCB, are also wearing black armbands.

A statement from RCB said, “Royal Challengers Bengaluru will pay tribute to the eleven members of the RCB family who tragically lost their lives in the unfortunate incident on June 4, 2025.” “As a mark of respect, players will wear practice jerseys bearing the number 11 during the warm-up, followed by black armbands during the match. “In a lasting gesture of remembrance, eleven seats at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium will remain unoccupied, serving as a permanent tribute to the fans whose unwavering support will always be a part of the RCB family,” the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru won the toss and decided to field against the SRH in the tournament opener at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. At 27 years and 253 days, Ishan Kishan, who is the stand-in captain of the Sunrisers, became franchises’ second-youngest skipper, behind Kane Williamson (27y, 244d) in 2018.

Playing XI of both teams:

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma. (ANI)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru players will train wearing jersey No.11 during match days in the upcoming IPL and the franchise also plans to mark 11 permanent seats in honour of the fans who died in a tragic stampede outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in 2025.

The fans had lost their lives in Bengaluru on June 4, 2025 in a stampede that was triggered by chaos during RCB’s celebratory events after the team’s maiden IPL trophy win. The franchise had copped massive criticism for its handling of the celebrations which drew lakhs to the streets without requisite security clearances.

“The players will be wearing jersey No.11 for the practice on the game day — the practice time before the match,” RCB CEO Rajesh Menon told reporters in Bengaluru on Tuesday (March 24, 2026).

“All the players will have jersey No.11 on their back; not for the game, but for the practice.

“Apart from that, they will be also wearing black armbands on that day. We are also looking at having 11 permanent seats in Chinnaswamy Stadium forever. This is for the 11 fans who will be with us forever,” he added.

The defending champions will be playing their season-opener in Bengaluru on March 28 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in what will be the first of their five home matches at this venue.

RCB are set to play their remaining two home matches at Raipur’s Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium this IPL.