With the talks around the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 intensifying, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) along with the IPL General Council also have a daunting task in order to secure
the venues for the upcoming edition. However, the venues have been more or less sorted in the recent past, but after the stampede tragedy which took place following Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) maiden title victory this year, their home ground in M. Chinnaswamy Stadium is now under threat.
Notably, the venue which was set to hold the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 matches, saw the BCCI along with the ICC change the venue to DY Patil Sports Academy after now being cleared to host international games following the tragic incident. But recent reports have revealed that the RCB fans will miss watching their team play at the homeground this time.
RCB home matches to move out of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium; MCA in Pune to host games in IPL 2026: Reports
According to reports, there are talks to not hold any matches in the upcoming edition, with RCB ending up playing all heir home matches at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune. This comes after M. Chinnaswamy Stadium is being declared unfit to host ay event.
MCA Secretary Kamlesh Pai recently in a statement to Times of India (TOI) said, “This arrangement (Pune hosting RCB’s matches) is in discussion but it’s not confirmed yet. They have a problem in Karnataka, because of the stampede that happened. So, they are looking out for a venue and we have offered them our stadium. There are preliminary discussions and there are a couple of technical things which need to be sorted out. If things fall in place then, probably yes, Pune will host the matches.”
If so happens, this will be the first time that RCB will be playing all their home at a different venue in the so far 18 editions of the tournament. The only other time when RCB did not play at home was in 2009 when the tournament was moved to South Africa due to COVID-19.
