Saturday will be about reintegration — of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium with Indian cricket’s mainstream.

Ever since the deadly stampede of June 2025 during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL title-winning celebrations, one of Indian cricket’s iconic centres had been forgotten as an international venue.

With the fifth and final T20I between India and the West Indies, the Garden City will finally shed its incognito avatar and add to a fixtures list that had stopped at the India versus New Zealand Test in October 2024.

The setting will befit the occasion, for the contest will decide the series that is locked at 2-2. Though there is no T20 World Cup on the horizon to amplify the importance, the two-time reigning World champion wouldn’t want to lose a second straight bilateral series to the West Indies after the 2-3 away reverse in August 2023.

Weather, however, might be the biggest hindrance. With the North-East monsoon having set in, the Karnataka capital has witnessed humid weather in the mornings and showers in the late afternoons and evenings. The famed SubAir drainage system, which helped salvage that New Zealand Test two monsoons ago, may well have to come out of hibernation.

If the rain gods relent, a high-scoring night might materialise. This is not an unrealistic expectation, for five of eight totals this series have exceeded 220 (including three 250 and thereabouts), and the short boundaries of Chinnaswamy have long been hospitable to marauding batters.

But paradoxically, in IPL 2026, there was just one score in excess of 210 from five matches here. Dew is another variable. Interestingly, both in Indore (third T20I) and Hyderabad (fourth), it was not a factor, and sides defending totals won. Will Bengaluru too even out the contest?

None of this should matter to Shai Hope though. The West Indies captain has hands down been the best batter this series, scoring two unbeaten centuries — at a strike-rate in excess of 200 — in the two victories in Ranchi (second T20I) and Hyderabad.

A Jasprit Bumrah-less bowling attack, which is also sweating over Arshdeep Singh’s fitness, needs to think out of the box to stop Hope’s high-culture aggression. The addition of RCB fan favourite Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who last played for India in November 2022, should help.

India’s batting, led by captain Shreyas Iyer, has certainly caught fire over the last 10 days, but to burn down its opponent’s edifice fully, top-order batters Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan should get a good grip over Roston Chase’s off-spin. What better occasion than Saturday to do that.

Match starts at 7 p.m.

Shivamogga Yodhas recorded a comfortable seven-wicket win over Mysuru Warriors in the DACCS Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 Eliminator at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday. 

Yodhas cruised into Qualifer 2, while Warriors exited the tournament. 

Yodhas’ left-arm pacer Abhilash Shetty gave his side the early momentum when he dismissed opener R. Rohan (1) and star batter Devdutt Padikkal (6). Padikkal, playing his first match of the tournament, disappointed when he edged one to the wicketkeeper.  

The Warriors slide continued, as seamer M. G. Naveen scalped three middle-order wickets. 

Number ten Abhishek Prabhakar (36 n.o., 10b, 1×4, 5×6) gave Warriors some hope when he carted Naveen for four big sixes in the final over. 

Chasing 162, Yodhas was given the perfect launch pad by openers Luvnith Sisodia (56, 32b, 7×4, 2×6) and Tushar Singh (53, 39b, 2×4, 3×6). The duo racked up a 95-run stand in 9.5 overs to deflate Warriors. 

Warriors captain and fast bowler V. Vyshak attempted to break Sisodia with some fiery chat, but to no avail. 

After the openers departed, K.V. Aneesh (35 n.o.) held firm to take Yodhas home.

The scores: Eliminator: Mysuru Warriors 161/9 in 20 overs lost to Shivamogga Yodhas 162/3 in 16.1 overs (Luvnith Sisodia 56, Tushar Singh 53). 

“My wife and I recently built a memorial and planted trees in Sahana’s memory on our two-gunta farm near Badavarahalli in Kolar district. Whenever we miss her, we go and stay there for a day or two to feel her presence and console ourselves,” said Suresh Babu, father of 23-year-old Sahana, who along with 10 others, lost her life one year ago in the city’s worst stampede tragedy.

How did celebration of RCB’s historic win in IPL spiral into chaos and crisis? | Explained

Thursday, June 4, marks one year since the tragic stampede near M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru during last year’s RCB victory celebrations. The incident claimed 11 lives, with victims aged between 16 and 29. Their families recall it as a dark day and say they never want such an incident to recur. While all have received compensation from the State government, they question whether money can ever restore lost lives and happiness.

On the afternoon of June 4, 2025, thousands of fans gathered after news of the RCB team’s arrival in Bengaluru went viral on social media. However, there was confusion over whether the felicitation would be held at Vidhana Soudha or at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. This led to large crowds thronging the streets, with many climbing the stadium’s walls and gates to catch a glimpse of their favourite players. In the ensuing rush, several people were trampled, injured, and suffocated to death.

Haunted by sorrow

Mr. Suresh cried inconsolably as he said, “Going by the Hindu panchanga, we observed our daughter’s death anniversary on May 24 and served food to 800 people. I was supposed to do this for her wedding, but fate had other plans. We are living only for our younger daughter, Chandana, who is in II PU. Sahana supported her sister’s education and never allowed us to spend a single penny. She was passionate about sports from her school days and participated in several tournaments organised at her workplace. This wasn’t the first time she had gone to the stadium. Whenever there was an IPL match, she would buy tickets and go with her friends.”

He added that the family has withdrawn from social life. “We haven’t attended any events or gatherings. We have lost the happiness and peace that Sahana brought into our lives,” he said.

Rewind 2025: Fatal crowd crush

Lakshman D.H., father of Bhoomik — who was 19 years old and studying engineering at a private college in Banashankari when he died in the tragic incident — said, “He was our only son, and we see no purpose in life now. My wife and I haven’t smiled a single day since his death. Bhoomik had gone out with friends to eat shawarma near M.G. Road. After hearing that the RCB team was arriving at the stadium, they went there. What followed was completely unexpected. Yes, we received compensation, but can money, the government, or RCB bring back my son?”

Awaiting justice

Meanwhile, Karunakar Shetty, father of Chinmaya Shetty — who was 19 at the time of her death — said he was still waiting for justice. “All parties involved, including the government, blamed each other. Can someone take responsibility for the deaths of 11 people? That is why I initially refused to record my statement when the police called me during the investigation. Later, my friends convinced me to do so, but I asked them what the point was if the culprits would be let off despite our efforts. Had she been alive, she would now have been in his second year of engineering,” he said.

Shridhar K.T., brother of victim Shravan K.T. who was 20, said, “My brother was a dental student at a private college in Bengaluru. We are originally from Chintamani, and he was the first in our family to attend college. After his death, my mother fell ill and developed tuberculosis. She slipped into depression and stopped taking her medication. It took a long time for us to convince her to live for the sake of the rest of the family. Even now, she remains depressed and has not been able to accept his death.”

11 die in stampede as RCB victory celebrations turn tragic at Bengaluru

What began as a day of rapturous celebration over the IPL victory of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) turned into one of crushing tragedy in Bengaluru on Wednesday evening when 11 people — all aged below 40 — died and 33 were injured when a massive build up of fans at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium led to chaos and stampede.
| Video Credit:
The Hindu

Beware if you are planning to buy tickets for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) matches through unofficial channels. The new m-tickets will not only assist the police in cracking down on sellers, but they can also put you at risk.

The State expert committee set up to supervise the overhaul of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium ensured that 80% of the match tickets were sold in the form of m-tickets, which helps in curbing black-marketing.

So, there’s to be no World T20 match next year in Bengaluru, one of India’s major cricket centres. Earlier, the inaugural match of the Women’s World Cup (which India won) was taken away. The Chinnaswamy Stadium hasn’t hosted a match since the stampede in June that killed 11 fans during the RCB celebrations following the IPL win.

Where does the home of Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Shanta Rangaswamy, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid go from here?

Speaking to a range of players and officials has been enlightening. The word that was used most often was ‘mess’. For some time now, the Karnataka State Cricket Association has had no President (after Raghuram Bhat was elected Treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India), and no Secretary or Treasurer (after A. Shankar and E.S. Jairam respectively resigned following the stampede). The KSCA Constitution states that vacancies should be filled within 45 days.

Now there’s a glimmer of hope — elections that were to be held by September 30 are finally being held on November 30. In one corner is Test star Venkatesh Prasad and his team and in the other, media magnate Shanth Kumar and his team. Both men with clean records and an unblemished public image.

Shanth Kumar’s is, somewhat surprisingly, called ‘Team Brijesh’. This is Brijesh Patel, who is 73 and cannot contest because he is above the age limit of 70. “This is just to say I am supporting them,” Patel says, “Just a message.”

Whoever is elected will have to deal with two important issues: one, practical, focused on the game itself, and the other the proxy control that seems to afflict many cricket associations in India. This latter is the back-seat driving that has got around some of the Supreme Court’s amendments to the Lodha Commission recommendations. Rather like in politics where a chief minister’s wife takes charge to keep the seat warm, as it were (like when Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wife succeed him as Chief Minister in Bihar). Cricket officials learn from the best!

Niranjan Shah’s son Jaydev Shah extended his family’s hold over Saurashtra cricket as did N. Srinivasan’s daughter Rupa in Tamil Nadu. Niranjan had been secretary of the Saurashtra Cricket Association for 43 years, long enough for many to wonder if the name should be changed to ‘Shahrashtra’. By one calculation, nearly a third of the national associations are run by sons, relatives, or those beholden to former officials or politicians.

Influence-peddling for political, personal, business reasons is a cricketing speciality; you only have to follow the career of some officials to understand this. Cricket-loyalty trumps party-loyalty even, and not in a nice way. Getting around the constitution has become a national sport, and sports associations are masters at it. There’s more politics in cricket than vice versa, which is a pity.

Decades ago, Brijesh Patel ended a fiefdom and brought a breath of fresh air to the KSCA when he led a group of cricketers to oust C. Nagaraj who had been in office in various capacities for years. Now he says, “You know cricketers don’t always make the best administrators. There are plenty of examples in India.”

E.S. Jairam, who resigned following the stampede, is the Shanth Kumar group’s secretary. The secretary in Prasad’s team is former cricketer Sujith Somasunder.

“Our focus is on the game,” says Prasad, “The stadium built by a giant like Chinnaswamy is in a mess. The cricketing structure needs to be strengthened. The YSR and Group II league which have not been held in recent years need to be revived. Likewise with women’s league cricket.”

Whoever comes to power will also have to deal with the government, especially regarding the return of top flight cricket to the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Past experience has shown that the authorities, both at the civic and governmental level, are not above demanding their pound of flesh for what they see as favours rendered to the cricketing body.

Fans — the game’s biggest stake-holders although they are seldom treated as such — will have to bide their time before some of its sheen returns to the KSCA. The elections are a start, but progress will depend on how the two important issues are addressed.