BENGALURU: After months of uncertainty following the stampede during Royal Chal-lengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) maiden IPL victory celebra-tions on June 4 last year in which 11 fans were killed, M Chinnaswamy Stadium is all set to host the defending champions again after the state govt gave the all-clear for IPL 2026 matches at the venue.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!On Monday, following a meeting chaired by Karnataka home minister G Paramesh-wara, and attended by the Expert Committee and repre-sentatives of KSCA, RCB and DNA, the govt issued the for-mal go-ahead for hosting matches at Chinnaswamy. The Karnataka State Cricket Association has been asked to follow the SoPs issued by the state govt last year.

The 19th edition of the tournament will get under way on March 28 with RCB hosting Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru. The stadium is also slated to host the opening ceremony apart from the RCB Unboxing event, which is likely to be held on March 21.In a media statement, KSCA said: “During the meeting, the Expert Commit-tee outlined the prepared-ness and compliance meas-ures undertaken at Chinnas-wamy Stadium.“Based on its recommen-dations and after reviewing the arrangements in detail, the home minister formally granted approval for the con-duct of upcoming IPL match-es at the iconic stadium.”The statement added that the KSCA team worked closely with all statutory authorities to ensure full compliance with the recommendations of the Expert Committee.