Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) issued a statement in response to Venkatesh Prasad's remarks after the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) president placed the onus on the franchise to host their IPL 2026 matches at the iconic Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Notably, 11 people had lost their lives in a tragic stampede incident outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium while attending RCB's maiden IPL title win celebrations in June last year. Since then, the venue hasn’t hosted any competitive matches.
With nearly two months remaining for the upcoming IPL season, the KSCA has received conditional green light from the state government to stage competitive matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
On Wednesday (January 21), Prasad urged RCB to speed up the process of hosting games at home so that the KSCA can get unconditional approval from the BCCI.
While RCB expressed desire to play their matches in front of the home crowd, the franchise still wants a "few grey areas" to be addressed to ensure fans' safety.
"We welcome the Karnataka Government's decision to allow matches to be held at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, and we highly appreciate the KSCA's efforts in the ongoing infrastructure work that has led to this conditional approval," RCB said in a statement.
"While our desire is always to play at our home ground in front of our ardent fans, we are committed to fully understanding the conditions applicable to hosting matches here and the measures taken to ensure fans' safety protocols are met. Our goal is to determine how all stakeholders can best work together."
After appreciating the KSCA's efforts to bring cricket back to the Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB stressed the importance of providing fans with a safe and secure experience.
"We have repeatedly stated that fans are the heart and soul of RCB. With our fans-first approach, we want to ensure they have the best and safest experience possible. From our preliminary conversations, there remain a few grey areas that need to be addressed; we are considering these parameters and inputs from all stakeholders before arriving at a responsible decision for the team and our fans."
