Devajit Saikia Clarifies Why M Chinnaswamy Stadium Was Dropped From IPL 2026 Final

BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia revealed Chinnaswamy Stadium lost IPL 2026 playoff and final hosting rights after KSCA allegedly sought significantly more complimentary tickets than the permitted.

Devajit Saikia explained why Bengaluru lost hosting rights for the IPL 2026 playoffs, revealing concerns over excessive complimentary ticket demands from the Karnataka State Cricket Association. Saikia said IPL rules allow host associations to receive complimentary tickets worth 15 per cent of the stadium’s seating capacity. However, BCCI received reports that KSCA sought a much larger allocation during league matches.

The board later contacted the association for clarification and received a response on May 2. According to Saikia, KSCA requested thousands of additional passes beyond the approved quota. The demands reportedly included tickets for members, affiliated clubs, MLAs, Members of the Legislative Council and 700 complimentary tickets for the Karnataka government.

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Saikia added that the extra demand crossed nearly 10,000 tickets over the standard allocation. Following the issue, BCCI shifted the IPL 2026 playoffs away from Bengaluru and reassigned the matches to other venues.

“Consequently, we sent them an email requesting precise details regarding this matter. We were shocked when we received a response via email from the Karnataka State Cricket Association on May 2nd; in that email, they stated that, over and above the 15 per cent complimentary ticket quota, they would require an additional, substantial allocation of tickets for their members, affiliated clubs, and various others,” Saikia said.

“Most surprisingly, they also requested tickets for their local Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and Members of the Legislative Council. And also to the government of Karnataka, 700 complimentary tickets. Thus, over and above the 15 per cent allocation, they were demanding approximately 10,000 additional tickets,” he added.

BCCI later shifted the final to Ahmedabad, while Dharamshala and Mullanpur received the remaining playoff fixtures.

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