IPL 2026: The Royal Challengers Bengaluru will most likely not be playing their home matches at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in the upcoming IPL 2026. RCB are the defending champions, having lifted their maiden title in the IPL 2025 with a victory over the Punjab Kings in the final. However, the recent development has come out as a huge disappointment for RCB fans.
There was uncertainty over the venue selection for RCB's home matches as soon as an unfortunate incident took place during the celebrations after the title win last year. The venue hasn't hosted any international fixture after a fatal stampede outside the venue on June 4 that claimed 11 lives and left 50 injured during RCB’s IPL victory parade. The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has been trying hard to bring back top-flight cricket to the venue, having held multiple meetings with the state government recently.
As per a report in the Times of India, RCB will be playing their home matches in the IPL 2026 at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium and Raipur’s Shaheen Veer Narayan Singh Stadium next season. "RCB will play five matches in Navi Mumbai and two in Raipur during IPL 2026. The RCB officials have finalised the arrangement recently after meetings with the concerned officials," a source in the report was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Notably, Bengaluru has been the home venue of RCB since the inception of the IPL in 2008. While the discussions between the KSCA and the Karnataka government were going on, the Chinnaswamy Stadium was denied permission to host Vijay Hazare Trophy matches last December due to ongoing safety concerns, resulting in those fixtures being moved to the BCCI's Centre of Excellence.
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While fans were waiting for Virat Kohli to play the VHT matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, a late change in the venue led to many heartbreaks as the veteran batter turned up for Delhi in a couple of fixtures and produced a batting masterclass. He smashed a century against Andhra Pradesh before hitting a fiery fifty against Gujarat.
The Justice John Michael D'Cunha committee, appointed after the June 4 stampede, had delivered a grim assessment of the stadium, calling it "highly unsafe" for large-scale events.
On the other hand, the inaugural champions, Rajasthan Royals, will play their home fixtures at the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium in Pune as the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) is yet to resolve the long-standing electoral disputes. IPL chairman Arun Dhumal had earlier cautioned the RCA, saying, "We had already communicated to the RCA last year that, in case you are not able to organise these elections, it would be difficult for us to conduct the tournament there."