Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], January 22 : Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru have kept their doors open to play their home Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 matches at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, according to ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday.
"While our desire is always to play at our home ground, in front of our ardent fans, we want to be thorough in our commitment to further understand the conditions applicable to host matches here and the measures taken to ensure fans' safety protocols are met," RCB said in a statement, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"Our goal is to see how best all stakeholders involved can work together. From our preliminary conversations, there are still a few grey areas that need to be looked into, and we are considering these parameters and inputs from all stakeholders before arriving at a responsible decision for the team and our fans."
Speaking to ANI, KSCA president Venkatesh Prasad was asked about how they are confident about bringing back Indian Premier League matches to Chinnaswamy. Prasad replied, "In 45 days, what this committee has been able to achieve, I don't think any other committee would have thought of or dreamt of achieving. The Karnataka government and BCCI all have huge amounts of confidence and faith, saying that yes, this committee is working extremely hard and they would definitely like to complete the work in the given timelines."
The KSCA president also assured that all the work will be completed by the end of February, so they can obtain the unconditional letter of approval from the Karnataka government.
And yes, we are working not double, triple shifts basically, to make sure that whatever work we have undertaken is going to be completed by the end of February, so that we can get the unconditional letter of approval from the government. I sincerely thank the Karnataka Government for its support.
Venkatesh Prasad further commented that they are yet to hear from RCB about playing all their IPL 2026 matches in Chinnaswamy.
"Nobody wants IPL to leave Chinnaswamy. Nobody wants the international matches to go away from Chinnaswamy. So it's been an iconic stadium and one of the busiest and craziest of fans that you can see, as far as cricket is concerned." We are yet to hear from RCB about making up their mind and confirming that we will play all their matches here in Chinnaswamy. But we would like them to play all their matches here in Bengaluru. And now the ball is in their court," Prasad told ANI.
For those unversed, the Karnataka Government, on January 17, granted permission to the Chinnaswamy Stadium to host international matches and IPL matches.
In an official release, Vinay Mruthyunjaya, Official Spokesperson of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, said, "We are pleased to inform you that the Home Department, Government of Karnataka, has granted permission to the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) to host international and IPL matches at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru."
However, the Board highlighted that the permission granted is subject to compliance with specific terms and conditions prescribed by the government and concerned authorities.
"The permission is subject to compliance with specific terms and conditions prescribed by the Government and the concerned Authorities. KSCA is confident of fulfilling all the stipulated conditions. The Association has already presented a detailed compliance roadmap before the Expert Review Committee and remains fully committed to implementing all safety, security, and crowd-management measures in letter and spirit," the statement added.
The development comes after the cricket at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium was suspended since June last year after 11 people died and several were injured in a stampede during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) IPL title celebration.