Tragedy struck when thousands of fans gathered to celebrate Royal Challengers Bangalore’s maiden IPL title win. The team, led by Virat Kohli, returned to their home ground, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, with the trophy. But the excitement turned deadly as 11 people lost their lives in a stampede outside the stadium.
The chaos erupted when a massive crowd, eager to catch a glimpse of their favorite players, tried to enter the stadium without tickets. The security arrangements were inadequate to handle the huge turnout. The BCCI Secretary, Devjyot Saikia, expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
The IPL 2025 final match was played on June 3, where RCB defeated Punjab Kings to win their first trophy. The team arrived in Bengaluru the next day, and thousands of fans lined up along the route to catch a glimpse of the players. Anushka Sharma shared several videos of the crowd on her Instagram.
As the team arrived at the stadium around 5 pm, the crowd swelled, and the situation became uncontrollable. The stampede occurred around 6 pm, and despite the tragedy, the celebrations continued inside the stadium for some time. Saikia acknowledged that the incident was a result of poor organization and inadequate security measures.
He told PTI, “This is unfortunate. This is the negative side of popularity. People are crazy about their cricketers. The organizers should have done a better job. I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.” He added that when a team wins on such a large scale, proper precautions, security, and safety measures should be in place.