Sachin Tendulkar reacts to ‘beyond tragic’ Bengaluru stampede during RCB parade: ‘What happened at Chinnaswamy…’

Former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, on Wednesday, condoled the “beyond tragic” stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where Royal Challengers Bengaluru celebrated their maiden IPL title win in 18 years, having defeated the Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

RCB’s celebration turned into chaos outside the stadium where 11 people lost their lives and 33 were left injured following a stampede as thousands of fans gathered to catch a glimpse of their favourite player.

Taking to X, the India legend wrote, “What happened at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, is beyond tragic. My heart goes out to every affected family. Wishing peace and strength to all.”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which organises the IPL, in a statement called the incident “unfortunate.”

“This is a negative side of popularity. People are crazy for their cricketers. The organisers should have planned it better,” board secretary Devajit Saikia said.

IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal, expressing his condolences to families who lost their members in the stampede, said that the Indian board was not aware that such an event was planned.

“This is a very unfortunate incident… We had no information that such an event was being planned… If such events are planned in the future, then proper arrangements should be made… Those who were sitting inside the stadium had no information about the incident,” Arun Dhumal told ANI. “We express condolences to the families of the deceased. A title win was to be celebrated; rather, the loss of lives is being mourned.”

Despite the chaos, RCB’s felicitation ceremony went as per the plans, although the open-bus parade, which was eventually allowed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah got cancelled. Virat Kohli and captain Rajat Patidar addressed the packed crowd inside the stadium, before the players went around the ground with the trophy.