Former India batter and head coach Rahul Dravid spoke on the stampede that took place near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4 at Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL 2025 title celebration. RCB’s 18-year wait for clinching the IPL title finally ended on June 3 when they defeated Punjab Kings by six runs in the summit clash in Ahmedabad. To celebrate this moment with the fans, the franchise organised a victory parade in Bengaluru, but the joyous occasion turned sour after a stampede broke out and killed 11 people.
Indian cricket great Rahul Dravid, in an exclusive interview with NDTV, sent his heartfelt condolences to all those who lost their lives in the Bengaluru stampede during RCB’s IPL title celebrations.
Dravid, who hails from Bengaluru and is a renowned face of Karnataka cricket, spoke to NDTV and expressed his condolences about the unfortunate incident. The former India coach admitted that it was heartbreaking to see such a tragedy unfolding in Bengaluru.
“Very disappointing. It’s very sad. Bengaluru is a sports-passionate city. I come from here. People over here love all sports, not just cricket. They follow all the sports and also all the sporting teams, be it a football team or a kabaddi team. It’s really heartbreaking that such an unfortunate incident happened. Our thoughts go out to everyone for unfortunately lost their lives and those who were injured.” Dravid told NDTV in an exclusive chat. “Such a tragedy shouldn’t have happened.”
It has to be noted that Dravid is associated with the IPL at present, as the coach of the Rajasthan Royals team. A lot has been said and written since the incident took place, with the tragedy also taking a political turn.
Dravid, however, refrained from getting into the ‘political blame game’ while also refusing to blame the state government, the franchise, or the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) people for the tragedy.
A few RCB and an event management company officials were also arrested in relation to the investigation in the case, with an FIR also being lodged against the IPL franchise.
