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RCB react to Chinnaswamy stampede which killed 11 fans: ‘Upon being made aware of the situation, we promptly…’
Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) issued a joint statement following the stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium amid the franchise’s Indian Premier League (IPL) victory celebrations on Wednesday. The incident led to 11 RCB fans losing their lives and 33 getting injured. Both RCB and KSCA expressed deep concern and heartfelt condolence after the stampede marred RCB’s victory celebrations. RCB and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) react to the stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium. (AFP) RCB were supposed to hold a victory parade from Vidhana Soudha to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday evening. Throughout the day, there was no clarity on whether the parade would go ahead, as initially, the Bengaluru traffic police denied permission, saying there might be too much chaos. As soon as RCB reached the Vidhana Soudha to meet the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a stampede was reported outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Thousands had gathered to celebrate RCB’s maiden IPL title win. However, the police failed to manage the crowd, leading to an unfortunate incident unfolding outside the ground. Also Read: BCCI shocked but has ‘no role’ in Bengaluru stampede that caused deaths, injuries “RCB – KSCA expresses deep concern and heartfelt condolences regarding the unfortunate incident that occurred during the celebration organised by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium earlier today,” the KSCA stated in its statement. “We are profoundly saddened by the tragic loss of life and the injuries sustained by individuals during this event. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families affected by this incident. We sincerely regret this tragedy and stand in solidarity with the bereaved families during this extremely difficult time,” the statement added. On the other hand, RCB in their official statement, said that the franchise is deeply anguished by the unfortunate incident outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “We are deeply anguished by the unfortunate incidents that have come to light through media reports regarding public gatherings all over Bengaluru in anticipation of the team’s arrival this afternoon. The safety and well-being of everyone is of utmost importance to us,” RCB stated. “RCB mourns the tragic loss of lives and extend our heartfelt condolences to the affected families. Immediately upon being made aware of the situation, we promptly amended our program, and followed, the guidance and advice of the local administration. We urge all our supporters to please stay safe,” the statement added. ‘Compensation not intended to replace the value of human life’ KSCA also announced INR 5 lakh for the families who have lost their loved ones. However, this gesture is not intended to replace the value of human life, the joint statement stated. “RCB – KSCA announces 5 lakhs to the families of those who have lost their loved ones. We hope this gesture can offer some support and solace in their time of grief,” the statement read. “We want to emphasize that this compensation is not intended to determine or replace the value of human life, but rather to serve as a gesture of support and solidarity during such challenging times. Thank you for your understanding and support,” it added. The victory celebrations inside the Chinnaswamy Stadium lasted for half an hour as Rajat Patidar and Virat Kohli gave short speeches, thanking the crowd for their constant support. The RCB team then took a lap around the ground to celebrate the title win. RCB defeated Punjab Kings by six runs in the IPL 2025 final to win their maiden title at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
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The long wait that defined Kohli and RCB’s triumph
New Delhi: For a while, as Virat Kohli struggled in the middle on Tuesday, it looked as if Royal Challengers Bengaluru would be left to despair again in the IPL final. The run-rate wasn’t where they would have wanted it to be, Punjab Kings were putting on the clamps and RCB’s talisman was not able to get going. The wait, some dreaded with the RCB total on 125/3 after 14 overs, could continue. Virat Kohli, who has been with RCB since the inception of the league in 2008, finally laid his hands on the coveted IPL trophy. (AP) The cruellest cut in sport is to be within touching distance of the ultimate prize and then not win it. For RCB, it had happened thrice already, in 2009, 2011 and 2016. On each occasion, the cameras had zoomed in on Kohli. The expressions were a mix of dejection, disbelief and desperation — each feeling perhaps a reflection of where Kohli’s career was at that point. But this time, as the match wound to a close, Kohli could barely control the tears. When the final ball was bowled, he was on his knees and let it all out. Triumphs are sometimes defined by the wait; by how hard you have had to work for them; by how much the struggle changed you. This was the journey of a lifetime – for the club and the player. When Kohli was asked where he would rank the achievement, his answer revealed that the quest tested him in many ways. “It’s right up there, if I have to be honest,” said Kohli. “I’ve given everything that I had for the last 18 years. I’ve stayed loyal to this team, no matter what. I’ve had moments where I thought otherwise. I stood behind them, they stood behind me. And I always dreamt of winning it with them. This is far more special than winning it with anyone else because my heart is with Bangalore, my soul is with Bangalore. “You know, as a sportsman, when you grind for something, and this is a very high intensity, high quality tournament, which is of great value in world cricket today. I’m someone that wants to win the big tournaments, the big moments, and this one was missing.” The missing one Roger Federer was the clear No. 2 on clay from 2006 to 2008 when he made three straight French Open finals. The only problem was that the man dominating the tournament, Rafa Nadal, was pretty much an insurmountable hurdle and had beaten Federer in all three including a 6–1, 6–3, 6–0 pounding in 2008. But then Robin Soderling produced an epic performance to beat the Spaniard, and the Swiss ace pounced on the opportunity. “It meant a lot to me because it was the last Grand Slam that I was still missing. For me, I had won all the others by 2004, so I had to wait a good five, six years… So, of course, when I won it finally, on a rainy day here in Paris and I came through in the final, it was a beautiful moment,” Federer later said. There are many other greats who will identify with the feeling. Having made his India debut in 1989, Sachin Tendulkar had to wait till 2011 to get his hands on a World Cup. “In the end, what matters is that the trophy is sitting in your dressing room and not in the opposition’s dressing room, and that happened to us,” Tendulkar later said. “It was the ultimate feeling on the cricket field to take that victory lap as champions…” Sometimes the wait is so long that one starts believing it isn’t meant to be. That is when resilience, a single-minded focus and luck make their presence felt. India’s first individual Olympic gold was built on a manic approach by Abhinav Bindra; Andry Murray became the first British male to win Wimbledon in 77 years in 2013, but many will remember the Henmania inspired by Tim Henman as well. Henman didn’t find joy but his struggle inspired a generation. For Blackburn fans, the wait to win the top-flight English football league lasted 81 years but few will top the Red Sox baseball team winning the World Series in 2004, 86 years after their previous title. It inspired jokes and there was even talk of the Curse of the Bambino as the team’s trophy drought started after they traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920. Through it all, the fans, the teams and the players persist. The wait is excruciatingly painful but at the end of the day — as Kohli and RCB will attest — that is what makes the victory taste sweeter still.
IPL 2025 | Coach Flower heaps praise on RCB skipper Patidar
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s captain Rajat Patidar didn’t allow the pressure of leading stalwarts likes Virat Kohli affect him and exuded calmness according to coach Andy Flower. | Photo Credit: PTI Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower hailed captain Rajat Patidar for excelling in a tricky job. “One of the most impressive things about Rajat is that he has not been affected by captaincy. He is still the lovely, gentle, polite Rajat Patidar that we knew last year. He has not changed at all in that regard,” Flower said in the press conference after RCB emerged as the IPL 2025 champion. “I cast my mind back to how poorly I captained when I was his age. I’ve got tremendous respect for how he handled himself with all that scrutiny, and captaining some big players. Royal Challengers Bangaluru captain Rajat Patidar with the IPL 2025 Trophy after beating Punjab Kings in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Tuesday, May 03, 2025. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI “You cannot underestimate the calmness that he showed in leading some really big players, in a really big franchise. Rajat made good decisions in the middle under pressure. I have got tons of respect for him. I am really proud of the way that he carried himself,” Flower said. Flower explained that RCB’s auction strategy was sound, despite the initial criticism. “We copped some flak after the first day of the auction. People thought that we were investing our money rather than spending it. “But it meant that there was some really good value to be had on the second day. We got guys like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal (Pandya), Tim David and Romario Shepherd all on that second day. So that was really important,” Flower said. This isn’t just celebrations, it’s tears, hugs and screams. This is what belief finally looks like. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/5Fh01Wep0U — Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) June 3, 2025 Phil Salt’s splendid catch to dismiss Punjab Kings opener Priyansh Arya was a turning point in the final, Flower said. “That was an outstanding catch, wasn’t it? It was a perfect example of someone holding his nerve under pressure. He only got back from England at 3 o’clock this morning (Salt had made a quick visit to England to witness the birth of his child). The catch was a turning point,” Flower said. Published – June 04, 2025 08:56 pm IST
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PSG describe UCL win emotions with viral Gukesh-Carlsen reaction meme
Ligue 1 and UEFA Champions League 2025 winners Paris Saint-Germain gave a unique shoutout to Indian chess sensation and reigning World Champion D Gukesh, drawing a parallel between their historic UCL win and Gukesh’s recent triumph over Magnus Carlsen at the Norway Chess tournament. Gukesh, 18, had earlier lost to Carlsen in the first round of the blitz event but made a stunning comeback in the sixth round of the classical format to defeat the former World Champion for the first time in his career. Carlsen’s dramatic reaction—slamming the table in frustration—went viral across social media and has since become symbolic of unexpected, high-stakes turnarounds. “What it felt like winning our first UCL,” PSG wrote in their post of Gukesh’s reaction. PSG shared a picture of Gukesh’s reaction from that match on their official social media handles to describe their own emotions after lifting the coveted UEFA Champions League trophy. After years of near-misses and heavy spending on marquee stars like Neymar, Lionel Messi, and Kylian Mbappe, the French giants finally claimed their long-awaited maiden Champions League title with a dominant 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in the final in Munich. Unlike previous campaigns, this season’s success was built on a perfect blend of youth and experience, rather than relying solely on blockbuster signings. PSG’s choice to link their moment of glory with Gukesh’s career-defining victory reflected a mutual narrative of perseverance, redemption, and the joy of finally overcoming the odds. Published By: Debodinna Chakraborty Published On: Jun 4, 2025
The RCB success story: All method and a dose of luck
Ahmedabad: T20 cricket and endurance may sound paradoxical, but no IPL title is won without being ready for a long haul. More so when you throw in numerous complexities, from player availability, form and fitness with many of them punishing their bodies with all-format workloads. Add the unexpected momentum-breaker due to the week-long suspension this year, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) should be truly proud of their winning campaign. Ahmedabad: Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli lifts the championship trophy as captain Rajat Patidar and others celebrate during the presentation ceremony of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 final, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma) (PTI06_04_2025_000103A) (PTI) If 2024 was their turnaround season where they conjured up magic with a string of late wins to make the playoffs, this year was one of absolute dominance. Salt-Kohli partnership The signs were there in the very first game against Kolkata Knight Riders when Phil Salt’s aggression (SR 180) allowed Virat Kohli (SR 163) to ease into his innings. Show intent but play strokes where he could hold his shape. It’s a template the two openers maintained for the rest of the tournament, except for a brief spell when Salt was unwell and young English batter Jacob Bethell replaced him. The secret to Kohli’s T20 longevity has revolved around the maverick players who have batted around him. It was Chris Gayle and AB de Villers in the past. To his credit, Salt’s 403 runs (SR 176) to Kohli’s 657 runs (SR 145) was just the ideal mix RCB sought from their openers. Josh Hazlewood At ₹12.5 crore, Josh Hazlewood was their most expensive auction pick. The Australia pacer set an early marker that the onus was on him to make the high impact performances. Not just in the big final where he troubled Punjab Kings openers in the Powerplay, throughout the tournament Hazlewood would bang it short of good length, extracting seam movement to become the middle overs enforcer. On days when the pitch was flat, he would be the first to spread the word in the bowling group that it was a day to use more mix-ups. Towards the end of the league phase when Hazlewood wasn’t available, twice in a row RCB were taken for 200-plus totals – Ishan Kishan (94 – 48b) did the damage for SRH and Rishabh Pant (118 – 61b) for LSG. It showed how central the tall Aussie was to their bowling efforts in the season. Jitesh Sharma But what defined RCB’s spirited season was how they always found someone to stand up to reverse the tide. In reply to Pant’s explosive innings, Jitesh Sharma (85 – 33b) played the innings of his life. The wicket-keeper bat would play immense shots under pressure, unlocking a gear even he didn’t know he possessed. His filling the big boots of Dinesh Karthik the finisher with a little help from Karthik the coach was one of the storylines of RCB’s campaign. Rajat Patidar The RCB captain would have liked to be more consistent, but in many matches, he was the spin-hitter with his usual sparkle. Take the early match against KKR’s quality spin attack and how his cameo eased the pressure in the middle overs. Most importantly, Patidar the batter at no stage was weighed down by the high-profile job of leading RCB. “You can’t underestimate the calmness he showed in leading some really big players, a really big franchise, making good decisions out there in the middle under the pressure that RCB players play under,” head coach Andy Flower said. “Injury replacement to IPL-winning captain, bloody hell, that’s a turnaround,” as Kohli said in a RCB video. Krunal Pandya Few would have predicted that Krunal Pandya, the left-arm spinner with a penchant for the surprise bouncer and round-arm deliveries, would become RCB’s second highest wicket-taker – 17 to Hazlewood’s 22. Be it the four-for against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede or the miserly 2/17 in the final at Ahmedabad, Krunal this year was willing to give the ball air every time conditions allowed. Although it wasn’t his best season with the bat, when everyone else failed against DC, he held his own with 73*. Experience is not bought in the supermarket, goes the saying, but if you think of the auction as a marketplace, RCB did the smart bidding. Destiny Sporting conquests are incomplete without a bit of luck. If not for the forced break due to the India-Pakistan conflict, Hazlewood wouldn’t have got the time to recover from a niggle. Also Patidar, who had a hand injury. Jitesh led in Patidar’s absence. By the time action resumed and it was time for the playoffs, the key players were back and could make the difference. “For those who believe in fate, I’m sure they’ll find a story to tell. But yes, it did give us a bit of breathing space,” said Flower. How can any RCB fan not believe in providence? Not after 17 failed attempts. The RCB story was a lot of method, and a dose of luck too.