Bengaluru Chinnaswamy Stadium can host IPL matches but conditions apply, order to factor in D'Cunha panel report

Bengaluru: The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday cleared IPL matches at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium but will impose conditions. 

"The cabinet has decided to allow IPL matches to be played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. But conditions will be imposed and the order will be issued by the Home Department. The order will specify the conditions and preparations required. The home minister will provide more details in a day or two," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil told reporters after the cabinet meeting. 

"The order will be issued factoring in the D’Cunha Commission report and findings of the Maheshwar Rao expert committee. The existing gates need widening. The government has taken a serious view of the Cunha Commission report," Patil said

Sources said RCB wants to play its first IPL match of the 2026 season at the stadium in Bengaluru as it is the defending champions.

Earlier in the day, Home Minister G Parameshwara held a meeting with key representatives of Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). 

Briefing reporters following the meeting, Parameshwara said that the KSCA had been directed to follow the recommendations of the D’Cunha commission report. 

"Some of the recommendations are infrastructural in nature and some are not. Some of the recommendations have been complied with. They [RCB] had sought permission to play the inaugural match from Bengaluru, since they won last year and are defending champions,” Parameshwara said. 

"Some of the concerns raised by them include gates, parking areas and holding areas, which are infrastructural in nature. Others, like providing ambulances and doctors and creating triage areas, are not infrastructural concerns and can be immediately attended to. They say steps have already been taken,” he added. 

The home minister further stated that those hosting the matches would have to bear the responsibility. 

"It is RCB and KSCA who are conducting the event, and those who conduct the event will have to be responsible. The government can’t be held responsible,” he added. 

Eleven people were killed and several others injured following a stampede outside the gates of the stadium during the RCB's maiden IPL victory celebrations on June 4, 2025. 

Senior police officers, including then Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda, were placed under suspicion, which was lifted months later. 

The government set up an inquiry commission under retired high court judge Justice John Michael D’Cunha. Justice D’Cunha, in his report, had concluded that the "design and structure" of the stadium were "unsuitable and unsafe" for mass gatherings. 

The committee also "strongly" recommended relocating events where large crowds are expected to venues that are "better suited", among other recommendations.