Shamik Chakrabarty, Ahmedabad
On the podium, Rajat Patidar, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain, thanked the fans in Ahmedabad and said, “Ee Sala Cup Namde” after achieving back-to-back IPL double. At the post-match press conference, he remembered the dead.
Last year, RCB’s victory celebration had turned tragic, as 11 people died in a stampede near Chinnaswamy Stadium. The franchise had broken their 17-year IPL title drought but the joy was short-lived. The incidents in the aftermath was a dark chapter in RCB’s journey. The Karnataka government blamed the franchise for the mishap.
Nothing can make up for the loss of human lives and when asked to reflect on the tragedy, Patidar was sombre. “Obviously you feel bad, the loss (of lives) of the fans after winning the game,” said the skipper. “Not the fans, they were family members. I always want this trophy to dedicate them. I don’t have words to express the feeling.”
The whole incident had put a question mark on RCB playing their home fixtures at Chinnaswamy this term. After Venkatesh Prasad became the Karnataka State Cricket Association president, he walked the extra mile, convinced the state government, and RCB eventually played some of their home matches, including the tournament opener, in Bangalore this year.
They still lost out on hosting the IPL final at home. The BCCI broke away from the convention and took the final to Ahmedabad. In fact, the cricket board had little option, as it had to consider the interests of the common fans. In addition to the complimentary passes for MLAs and MLCs, additional passes, complimentary or at concessional rates, were also demanded. This prompted the BCCI to shift the final on to Ahmedabad. The quota for complimentary tickets at a venue is 15 per cent of the total capacity, and the demand exceeded that limit. Chinnaswamy Stadium has a capacity of 35,000.
“Given this convention only, we ensured that the opening game happened in Bangalore, despite the challenges they faced with the state government pertaining to last year’s stampede episode,” IPL chairman Arun Dhumal told RevSportz in an interview earlier this month. “There is a new legislation that has come up in Karnataka, as you all know, under which I think three tickets are to be given to every legislator. And they had a few more commitments pertaining to their members and other dignitaries, wherein they had committed some tickets at concessional rates and stuff like that. Given that, we would have been in a tricky situation, as very few tickets would have been available to the fans.”
This time, the Bangalore police has barred street revelry after RCB’s title triumph. ‘Celebrate indoors’ is the message.
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