India National Cricket Team modern-day batting great, Virat Kohli, would not be playing the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, according to a latest report in The Times of India.
M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is the home of Virat Kohli’s Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise – the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) – and it has been denied permission to host the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches.
M Chinnaswamy Stadium will not host Vijay Hazare Trophy matches
An unfortunate incident happened near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium earlier in the year after the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won their first Indian Premier League (IPL) championship.
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During the title triumph celebrations, fans gathered in large numbers outside the stadium and there was no proper crowd management, which led to a deadly stampede that took the lives of many fans.
Since that incident happened, the Karnataka government has kept all the international and domestic cricket matches away from the venue due to security reasons.
However, recently it was reported that the iconic stadium will host the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 matches of Team Delhi.
Virat Kohli’s Chinnaswamy comeback has been officially cancelled
However, according to a latest report, Chinnaswamy will have to wait longer before hosting the matches as Delhi’s match against Andhra has been shifted to a new venue.
Kohli won’t be seen in action at Chinnaswamy because the Bengaluru city police have refused to give permission to stage the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches.
On Monday night, Virat Kohli landed in Bengaluru for the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, and he is now likely to play the games at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE), which was kept as a backup venue.
Notably, an inspection was conducted at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru by a committee comprising the Bengaluru city police commissioner and officials from the public works department, fire and emergency services, and the health department, and they submitted their report to Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) commissioner Maheshwar Rao, who heads the panel.
The committee found out that the M Chinnaswamy Stadium was unfit to host the matches, and the city police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh, in an official statement, said:
“The committee inspected the stadium and concluded that there are no proper facilities to conduct matches. A decision on allowing matches will be made only after the required work is completed. For now, KSCA’s request to conduct matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium has been rejected.”
Virat Kohli’s presence charges up the Delhi squad
Virat Kohli will be playing the Vijay Hazare Trophy after a very long time, and his presence will act as a morale booster for the Delhi team. However, fans won’t be able to see Virat Kohli in action as the matches will be played behind closed doors, at the CoE.
Meanwhile, Delhi coach Sarandeep Singh said that Kohli is absolutely charged up to play the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and he is looking to win matches for the team.
“Virat Kohli is charged up, he is ready to rock. He is playing tomorrow.” said Sarandeep Singh, as quotes by RevSportz.
“All the senior players, all the players who are playing at the highest level are coming back to play for their respective states,” said Sarandeep. “It’s very good for the youngsters also, who can learn a lot of things and it would be a serious boost to their confidence. It’s a great gesture from those players who said that with no international matches happening, they would be playing the Vijay Hazare Trophy. It’s a very nice thing happening for domestic cricket.”
“When a player like Virat enters the dressing room, things are totally changed. Youngsters look up to him. He is their idol. Everyone wants to be like him — how he is training, how he is doing his workouts, everything… There are a lot of things to learn from the senior players. He is here to win matches.”
Also Read: Virat Kohli’s Chinnaswamy return for VHT turns sour as Karnataka govt imposes ban
