Chinnaswammy to host KSCA’s pre-season red-ball tournament three months after stampede

NEW DELHI: Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium will be hosting cricket matches for the first time since the stampede outside its premises in June this year, just a day following Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title win during the victory celebrations.

The stadium is one of the designated venues for the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) organised K Thimmappiah Memorial Trophy, a red-ball pre-season tournament featuring 16 teams. Chinnaswamy will be hosting a total of six matches, including a semifinal and a final, on September 26 onwards. However, fans would not be allowed inside the stadium, as per ESPNCricinfo.

Ajinkya Rahane, all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Vijay Shankar and Shashank Singh are some top players playing in the tournament, which would feature teams from Mumbai, Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and others.

The venue’s return to cricket also coincides with RCB breaking their social media silence over the tragic stampede. Over the past few days, the franchise has made a series of posts, including an announcement of extending Rs 25 lakhs to the families of those who died, while also committing itself to long-term action towards crowd safety management.

The venue has been at the centre of a long, ongoing tussle between KSCA, the Karnataka government and the state politics, all of whom have been under investigation, along with the franchise, by a one-man tribunal formed after the June 4 incident.

Additionally, KSCA encountered issues with local regulatory bodies, including the electricity supply department (BESCOM), which shut off the power to the venue due to non-compliance with fire safety regulations. A NOC has not been received as of Wednesday, and the venue uses generators and solar power for its energy needs.

Consequently, KSCA was not given the permission to host the 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup matches here, with Chinnaswamy losing all five of their matches, including the tournament opener, a semifinal and final on November 2. The tournament will start on September 30.

The Maharaja Trophy, the state’s top franchise-based T20 tournament, was also moved outside Bengaluru as police had rejected KSCA’s proposal to host it behind closed doors. The tournament was played in Mysore behind closed doors.

Later last month, a committee tasked by the Karnataka government to investigate the unfortunate incident had deemed the venue “unsafe for large-scale events” and had “strongly recommended” that the large-scale events be relocated to places “better suited” to handle large crowds.

Also, the Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar also revealed the government’s plans of building a cricket stadium that could host 60,000 fans in a massive 75-acre sports complex situated in city’s industrial suburbs. (ANI)