IPL 2026: How VIP Culture Led To The Shift Of Final From Bengaluru To Ahmedabad

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to shift the final of the Indian Premier League 2026 from Bengaluru to Ahmedabad after an impasse with the Karnataka government over the distribution of complimentary tickets to state's MLAs, MLCs and MPs.

The new venue for the final is now the Narendra Modi Stadium which has a whopping seating capacity of 1.30 lakh spectators. As per convention, the home venue of defending champions host the final, which is why Chinnaswamy Stadium was first selected as the host but after the stalemate between BCCI and the Karnataka State government, the final is now shifted to another venue.

However, the BCCI on Wednesday said "owing to certain requirements from the local association and authorities that were beyond the scope of BCCI's established guidelines and protocols, the venue has been shifted and reassigned."

Speaking to PTI, Dhumal elaborated on the issues that BCCI faced. The Karnataka government has a quota of three complimentary IPL tickets each for the state's MLAs, MLCs and MPs, which would have been difficult to implement at a venue which cannot accommodate more than 40,000.

"See ideally it should have been Bengaluru. We checked up with KSCA. Because what happened last year (stampede), they had some challenges. State government needs to give free tickets to legislators and KSCA has some other commitments for their members," he said.

Arun Dhumal disclosed that ICC board meeting is scheduled to take place around the final and the officials are expected for the marquee match.

"Stadium capacity is also not that high. Very few tickets were available there for league games as well. Since IPL final attracts people from around the world, we need to have a larger inventory (of tickets) available for fans. We would have the ICC board meeting around that time too, a lot of members are coming for that.

Also given the limited seating capacity of the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the interest around the IPL final, it won't be possible for BCCI to handover so many tickets to government officials over the interest of fans.

"Considering all, definitely we all thought a larger venue would be more appropriate. Keeping the convenience of fans as well as international guests coming in for ICC board meetings, we decided on Ahmedabad," said Dhumal.

BCCI Refutes Claims of Ahmedabad's Monopoly on Finals

Bengaluru's loss has turned out to be Ahmedabad's gain, but it has once again ignited the debate about Narendra Modi Stadium receiving preferential treatment for finals in the last few years, as three IPL finals and two World Cup finals have been held at that venue since 2022.

Opening up on the matter, Dhumal explained that NM Stadium was not supposed to host the final; it was only after the impasse with the Karnataka government that it was shifted to Ahmedabad.

"No, ideally the winning team gets the final but given the issues we touched upon, it becomes untenable to have it in Bengaluru. Let's say if CSK won last season we would surely do it in Chennai," Dhumal said.

However, again, if there was a deadlock over holding the match in Chinnaswamy, then why wasn't the match held in any other stadium apart from NM Stadium, given that so many finals have been allotted to that stadium in the recent past, as there are so many world-class stadiums in India?

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) had expressed its disappointment at not being given the opportunity to stage the final, insisting that it had done what was required to be ready.