The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced a change in the venue of this season’s Indian Premier League final, which was originally slated to take place at the home ground of the reigni
Published: May 6, 2026 6:59 PM IST
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced a change in the venue of this season’s Indian Premier League final, which was originally slated to take place at the home ground of the reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Instead, the title decider will now be played at the gigantic Narendra Modi cricket stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, May 31.
Highlights
- The M Chinnaswamy Stadium was supposed to host the finale as part of the usual norm followed in the IPL with the home turf of the defending champions being the venue. However, this was not the case last season when the BCCI shifted the finale from the Eden Gardens to the world’s largest cricket stadium.
The M Chinnaswamy Stadium was supposed to host the finale as part of the usual norm followed in the IPL with the home turf of the defending champions being the venue. However, this was not the case last season when the BCCI shifted the finale from the Eden Gardens to the world’s largest cricket stadium.
RCB had locked horns with the Punjab Kings in the finale last year at Ahmedabad with the South Indian franchise ending their 18-year wait for an IPL title with a close 6-run victory.
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The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru was all set to host its first IPL final since 2016 but due to a some out of scope constraints, the BCCI were forced to move the one-off title fight to the Narendra Modi Stadium.
In an official statement, the apex cricketing body clearly mentioned that certain demands from the local associations and authorities led to this move. The BCCI clarified that fulfilling those demands were beyond their guidelines and protocols.
“Bengaluru was originally designated to host the Final. However, owing to certain requirements from the local association and authorities that were beyond the scope of BCCI’s established guidelines and protocols, the venue has been shifted and reassigned.” – the BCCI said in a statement on Wednesday.
To put this into perspective, it is important to know the exact demands that were made by the local authorities. It happened right before the defending champions took on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 season opener in Bengaluru.
It might have begun when Congress MLA Vijayanand Kashappanavar publicly asked for the direct allotment of at least 5 VIP match tickets to each legislative member whenever an IPL match took place in Bengaluru.
He argued that elected MLAs are nothing less than VIPs and that they should have this privilege of watching Premier League matches for free. A few days later, Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar went on to say that a minimum of 3 VIP tickets would be allotted to both MLA and MPs.
Now this is beyond BCCI’s set protocols and guidelines and this could be a major reason why the final has been moved to Ahmedabad.
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RCB’s title celebration chaos in Bengaluru
We all remember what happened last year during Bengaluru’s IPL title celebration at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
A chaotic stampede right outside the venue saw the unfortunate deaths of 11 RCB fans, which led to the relevant authorities taking strict measures in banning the stadium from hosting high-profile matches provisionally.
It was only after the thorough infrastructural changes in the venue, from the Karnataka State Cricket Association, that BCCI lifted the ban. And their decision to relocate the IPL final could be because of mishap that took place last year.
The apex board knows that an IPL final attracts lakhs of spectators inside stadiums and therefore, crowd management will be very imperative.
