India head coach Gautam Gambhir has taken a tough stance on roadshows after IPL victory. 11 fans lost their lives after a stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as Royal Challengers Bengaluru celebrated IPL triumph after an 18-year wait. With lax crowd management, there was a stampede that led to 11 deaths and over 20 injuries. After the incident, Ganbhir said, there should not be roadshows, adding that human lives more important.
“I was always a big believer that we don’t need road shows. I believed in this when playing. I had the same statement to make even after winning in 2007: that we should not have road shows. Lives are more important. I will continue to say that even in the future,” Gautam Gambhir said at India’s pre-departure press conference.
Gautam Gambhir expressed his opinion about the Bengaluru Stampede incident and road shows
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Have closed-door ceremony
During his time at Kolkata Knight Riders, Gautam Gambhir was part of the victory parade. However, now, he believes there should not be any. Instead, teams can have closed-door ceremonies.
“In the future, we should be a little bit more aware of having these road shows. We can probably have these road shows behind closed doors. We shouldn’t have done that. Fans do get excited. Fanbases get excited. But nothing is more important than human lives. You can’t, at any point, lose 11 people. For me, the road show should not have happened,” Gambhir said.
RCB victory ceremony stampede
Fans partied the whole night with around 3 lakh people gathering outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and Vidhana Saudha to celebrate winning IPL 2025 title with RCB stars. However, it turned tragic as poor crowd management resulted in a stampede that killed 11, including a child. As many as 25 people were injured.
The Karnataka Government had approved the event. But inadequate security and planning by organisers, including RCB and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), contributed to the disaster. Bengaluru Police had initially denied permission for a victory parade due to security concerns. But it proceeded after political approval. While the victory parade was ultimately cancelled, RCB went ahead with a short ceremony inside the stadium.
RCB and the Karnataka government announced Rs 10 lakh compensation for the families of the deceased. An FIR has been filed against RCB, KSCA Administrative Committee and DNA (event manager) at Cubbon Park Police Station for criminal negligence.
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