The IPL opened in Bengaluru, with eleven seats left deliberately empty

The 2026 Indian Premier League opened on March 28 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets. The home side made 203 for 4 in 15.4 overs to chase a target of 202; Hyderabad had been bowled out for 201.

The result will be filed under a two-day chase. The part of the day that will be remembered is the one before it. The BCCI cancelled the traditional pre-season opening ceremony, and eleven seats in the stands were left permanently vacant, set aside for the eleven supporters killed in the stampede outside this ground during the team's title celebrations in June 2025.

A ground that changed its ceremony

A packed Chinnaswamy is part of the IPL's identity, and the emptiness was the point. Keeping the seats unfilled, in the same stand, for the rest of the season is a permanent absence rather than a one-off gesture, and it puts the June 2025 stampede inside a tournament that is otherwise built to sell the absence of attention.

• RCB 203/4 in 15.4 overs, chasing 202
• SRH 201 all out; Payne took 2 for 35
• Rajat Patidar captained the home side, with Ishan Kishan standing in for the injured Pat Cummins
• The Impact Player substitution rule continued through the 2026 season

Those eleven seats are also the reason the calendar matters. A tournament that opens in Bengaluru with a memorial in the stands has to be played out across the country with that frame visible, and the schedule released before the season put RCB's own remaining home fixtures against the same backdrop.