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Security personnel try to manage the crowd of fans gathered for the felicitation of IPL 2025 winning Royal Challengers Bengaluru team, in Bengaluru on Wednesday
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High joy turned into deep sorrow in Bengaluru on Wednesday as celebrations over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) title, turned into tragedy with at least 11 people, including a child, losing their lives and 33 left injured in a stampede. It is a no-brainer that a “celebration” organised with just a few hours of the victory could not have been well-planned. With RCB winning the title for the first time and given the large, passionate fan base that it has, a large turnout was inevitable. The authorities ought to have been conscious of this and planned for it.
According to Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, there were about 2-3 lakh people inside the Chinnaswamy Stadium which has a capacity of just 35,000. Television visuals show only a sprinkling of policemen in such a large crowd. It was a gross error of judgement to have organised a celebration in such haste without adequate preparations for crowd management. A magisterial enquiry has been ordered, which is just as well, because accountability has to be fixed for this calamitous lapse. The fact remains though that such a celebration could not have been organised without political clearance at the highest level. And it cannot be dismissed as a private celebration because both Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar were present inside the stadium and can even be seen holding the trophy. Clearly, there are uncomfortable questions for the government to answer. The buck should stop with it.
If it was passion for the game and adulation for the cricketers that led to the calamity in Bengaluru, it is the same passion, mixed with commerce, that ensured the success of IPL this year; even a war between India and Pakistan could not interrupt it for more than ten days. The brand value of IPL is a mammoth $12 billion. Four franchises— Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders — are valued in excess of $100 million each.
A noteworthy aspect of the latest edition was that the two teams that battled it out in the final had never won the trophy ever. And the usual favourites such as Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals failed to even make it to the playoffs. The rise of teams other than the usually fancied ones is good for IPL as it will widen the fan base. This IPL also saw a large number of debutants who were bought at low prices but who performed extraordinarily well. The services of the 14-year old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, for example, who stunned everyone with his batting prowess, were purchased for ₹1.4 crore. While cricket puritans will dismiss IPL as a circus, the fact remains that it has been extremely successful commercially and in unearthing talent from all corners of the country. But tragic events such as the one in Bengaluru on Wednesday certainly do not add to its image.
Published on June 4, 2025
This article first appeared on The Hindu Business Line
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