Explainer: Why M Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB's fate for IPL 2026 remains undecided 10 months after stampede

The Chinnaswamy Stadium lost the opportunity to host matches in the Women's ODI World Cup, including the final, as well as the men's T20 World Cup.

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is one of the most popular and historic stadiums in India, but has found itself in an odd cricketing purgatory in the last year or so. The tragedy in Bengaluru on June 4, around the grounds of the Chinnaswamy, which caused the death of 11 people attending RCB’s championship celebrations, has cast a shadow over the ground over the last 10 months.

RCB fans in attendance at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium cheer on during the IPL. (AP)

Now, with IPL 2026 approaching and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru heading into it as the defending title-holders, the stadium looks set to return to full use, conditional on clearance from a state government-led committee which is set to decide whether the safety standards have improved.

While things aren’t 100% certain, they do certainly look odds-on to be business as usual – whatever that can mean when the city’s long wait for an IPL trophy culminated in death and disaster.

Key tournaments lost by Bengaluru in last year

It has been an ugly and uncomfortable last 10 months for the Karnataka State Cricket Association in terms of regaining lost faith and prestige. Bengaluru was first discarded as a potential venue for the Women’s ODI World Cup, being stripped of its games and not even held in consideration for men’s international games in this period, including the recent Men’s T20 World Cup.

An Expert Committee led by Greater Bengaluru Authority chief M Maheshwar Rao and a report by former Karnataka High Court Justice John Michael D’Cunha cited 17 different areas of recommendation to the KSCA to make the venue a viable international venue again, with the KSCA currently working on those checkbox items in preparation for the IPL.

The Expert Committee remains the last hurdle for the KSCA and the RCB to clear, with the BCCI’s statement upon announcement of the IPL schedule earlier this week reading as such:

"The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka. The committee will conduct a meeting and inspection of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 13, 2026, 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.”

Ranji Trophy final was also taken away from B'luru

Reports have also indicated that there is still civil work being undertaken at the Chinnaswamy as of February – partially the reason that the ground couldn’t host the Ranji Trophy final in late February, which had to be moved to Hubballi instead as Karnataka were outplayed in their first finals appearance in over a decade, losing to Jammu & Kashmir.

"... It would not have been feasible to ensure the high-quality match-viewing experience and spectator convenience a marquee fixture such as a Ranji final deserves,” a KSCA spokesperson had said in the days leading up to the Ranji final, while also indicating that other clearances had been received by the state cricket board to begin preparing for the IPL.

While RCB and KSCA will feel confident regarding the results of the Expert Committee’s findings, with three other IPL franchises having voiced a desire to play in Bengaluru, the franchise is also set to play two of its seven home game as an alternate hosting venue – that being the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in Raipur.

RCB begin the IPL 2026 campaign on home turf against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 28.