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Former India batter Robin Uthappa recalled being "angry" over the Bengaluru stampede claiming lives of 11 and leaving umpteen injured during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 victory celebrations. Uthappa said that he delayed posting anything about the unfortunate incident on social media. He feels that the city deserved to celebrate but the planning could have been better.
“I was angry for almost a day and I really delayed even putting anything out on social media because I was so angry. In a sense, we were talking about a modicum of balance during the rivalries bit right? One can understand that in the celebrations you really want people to get close to the team and celebrate with them. I certainly think it could have been better planned, maybe take a day off to just plan the whole event because the city did deserve it, to be very honest," Uthappa said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Since then, an FIR has been registered naming RCB franchise, Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), and others. RCB's head of marketing and revenue, Nikhil Sosale, is on interim bail after judicial custody. In addition, few police offers have faced suspension as the investigation is ongoing.
Uthappa feels that the celebrations should have taken place on June 5. He gets emotional thinking about the families of the deceased.
“The sad part is now that whenever there is an RCB game, my heart shudders to think what those families will experience. It just hurts, man. It truly truly hurts. I just think they didn’t have enough time to plan for it. In hindsight, doing it the very next day was an error in judgment," the 39-year-old said.
Uthappa was part of RCB franchise for two seasons including the 2009 final when they lost to Deccan Chargers. He believes that the hard work that led to an end to 18-year-wait for the maiden title has been marred by the lives lost.
“The victory will always be marred by the loss of the lives of the people involved. It is so unfortunate that they can’t even celebrate the win that they have achieved after so many years, after so much hard work. It is going to be marred by this, and so you got to feel sad for the fans and, of course, for the players," he added.
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