IPL 2026: RCB vs SRH marks emotional return at Chinnaswamy amid global turmoil and billion-dollar cricket boom

Many people will heave a collective sigh of relief when the first ball of the 2026 Indian Premier League season is bowled. It will mark the return of top-flight cricket to the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, an iconic venue known for some great cricket. More recently, however, it has been associated with the tragic events of June last year, when the celebration of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s maiden title went so badly wrong that 11 people lost their lives and scores were injured.

It is at the home of the defending champions — they will play Sunrisers Hyderabad — that the latest edition of the T20 extravaganza begins. But, there will be no opening ceremony, for the Karnataka State Cricket Association and RCB are both mindful of just how traumatic last year’s incident was. A plaque has been put up, remembering those who lost their lives, eleven seats will be permanently left empty in honour of those who lost their lives, and both teams will observe a minute’s silence.

But when the first ball is bowled, you can be sure all hell will break loose. While no one wants to insult the memory of those affected by last year’s incident, the times we live in call for relief. The war in West Asia has spared no one.

The IPL is a curious beast in that it does its best to play on, no matter what. Not quite Nero fiddling while Rome burns — although the tournament flirted with that sentiment when it attempted to brazen its way through the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic before the league was suspended — but in a way that it beats to its own drum.

Markets may be tanking around the world, wiping out trillions in value, but in one 24-hour window, two IPL teams sold for astronomical figures. RCB, who have won only once, fetched $ 1.78 billion (about `17,000 crore), and Rajasthan Royals, who were the cheapest buy when the league was formed, went for $ 1.63 billion (about `15,000 crore).

Many prominent analysts have said that the numbers simply don’t add up, that the franchises are too dependent on television rights, which have plateaued with fewer players in the fray and that expansion plans are unrealistic. And yet, when it came down to an actual sale, the original investors waltzed rather than walked all the way to the bank.

The IPL is unusual in that it is blamed for many ills that blight the modern game. There’s no balance between bat and ball, it’s a slog fest, it’s not cricket, there’s too much glitz and glamour and distraction from the actual contest, it ruins players’ techniques ... the list is endless. Yet, when the tournament begins, a nation moves its living room furniture to point at the television. In the two hottest months of the year, every evening, there is a screen — television, laptop, tablet, or phone — in every second home with the IPL playing.

In that sense, the IPL has gone from being an anticipated tournament to a summer habit in 18 short years. It attracts the serious cricket watcher because the best players in the world congregate in one country and are paid well enough to take it damn seriously. The punters love it — even with real money gaming being banned — because every ball is an event, a mini lottery. Children and young adults are drawn to it because the protagonists have infiltrated their imagination through reels and adverts, even before a ball is bowled.

The viewership numbers do not lie: the tournament just keeps growing year on year. At 74 games, it is a long tournament, and the first half can seem pointless because the real race for the playoffs has not heated up yet. But even those that curse the tournament when it is not in season, seem to end up watching it.

The IPL is cricket, but not as we have known it. Only 15 of the very best make it to a country’s squad, which means that many more exceptional players and talents are excluded. In the IPL, there is room for everyone. The stories of players from cricket’s margins making it are so uplifting that even the most formulaic presentations move you.

As for cricket, there is plenty to play for. India’s freshly-minted World Cup champions will all be watched because who doesn’t want a piece of a winner? Other mega stars, Shubman Gill, Rishab Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal, to name just three, are desperate to find a way back in. And so it begins: whether you’ve been waiting eagerly for it, or are watching from behind the sofa with eyes shielded because you fear for what has happened to your favourite sport, the IPL is upon us once more.