RCB relocates home match to Raipur

Royal Challengers Bengaluru did not lose all of their home dates in IPL 2026, but they did lose two of them. The franchise said on March 3 that five home matches had been confirmed at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, while the remaining two would be staged at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur as a “prior commitment.” The Board of Control for Cricket in India had already flagged uncertainty around Bengaluru before that. In its March 11 schedule release for the first phase of IPL 2026, the BCCI said matches in Bengaluru were subject to clearance from an expert committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka. The board said the committee would inspect Chinnaswamy on March 13 and conduct a full-scale mock demonstration of match-day arrangements. (royalchallengers.com) The result was a split home season. The BCCI’s March 26 release for the second phase said Royal Challengers Bengaluru would play three home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur in that stretch, taking the season total to five in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. ### Why were some Bengaluru matches moved in the first place? (iplt20.com) The BCCI tied the issue to state-level approvals and stadium readiness. Its March 11 advisory said three states were due to hold assembly elections during the opening period of the tournament and added a note that Bengaluru matches were subject to clearance from the Karnataka government’s expert committee. (iplt20.com) RCB described the Bengaluru return as the product of “months of hard work and close coordination” with the Karnataka government, the Karnataka State Cricket Association and Karnataka Police. Rajesh Menon, RCB’s chief executive, said the club had completed the “necessary due process around permissions” before confirming five matches in Bengaluru. (iplt20.com) ### So how many matches did RCB actually host in each city? Seven league matches were designated as RCB home fixtures in IPL 2026. The franchise and the league both said five would be in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Match reports on the IPL’s official site show Bengaluru hosted at least the April 18 game against Delhi Capitals and the April 24 game against Gujarat Titans at the M. (royalchallengers.com) Chinnaswamy Stadium. Raipur hosted at least the May 10 match against Mumbai Indians at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium. The official IPL match report for that game identified the Raipur venue directly. (royalchallengers.com) ### What did “home” mean once the venue changed? RCB remained the designated home team even when the match was not in Bengaluru. (iplt20.com) The official IPL match report for the May 10 game listed it as “RCB v MI,” and the league recorded it as a Royal Challengers Bengaluru home fixture in Raipur. The league’s own scheduling language treated venue and home designation as separate matters. (iplt20.com) The BCCI said RCB would play “home matches” in both Bengaluru and Raipur, in the same way it assigned split home cities to Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals in 2026. That distinction matters for operations. Ticketing remained routed through official IPL channels, while RCB’s site continued to direct fans to club and match information even as the home-city allocation changed. (iplt20.com) ### Was this unusual in IPL scheduling? The IPL has long used multiple home bases for some teams, and the 2026 schedule did so again. The BCCI said Punjab Kings would split home matches between New Chandigarh and Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals would split theirs between Guwahati and Jaipur. (iplt20.com) What stood out in Bengaluru was the conditional approval process. (royalchallengers.com) The March 11 advisory named a government expert committee, a March 13 inspection and a mock drill before home matches could proceed at Chinnaswamy. ### What comes next on the schedule? The IPL said on March 26 that playoff venues would be announced later. (iplt20.com) The league stage runs through May 24, according to the BCCI’s second-phase schedule release, and fixture and ticket information remains on the official IPL and RCB platforms. (iplt20.com)