The IPL 2026 final will be held at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 31. When the BCCI announced the playoffs schedule earlier, it offered only a brief explanation for dropping Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium — home of defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru — as the final venue.
“Owing to certain requirements from the local association and authorities that were beyond the scope of BCCI’s established guidelines and protocols, the venue has been shifted and reassigned,” the board’s statement read.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has now told Sportstar what those requirements were.
“As per IPL protocol, we are required to provide only 15 per cent of the total seating capacity as complimentary tickets to the host association. This constitutes the standard protocol; all host state associations receive a 15 per cent allocation of their total capacity in the form of complimentary tickets,” he said.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association, he claimed, sought considerably more. “That was much beyond the allocated 15 per cent.”
“We wrote to the KSCA asking for details and, to our surprise, on May 2, they replied saying that over and above the complimentary ticket quota, they would require an additional allocation of tickets for their members, affiliated clubs and various others,” Saikia told Sportstar.
The BCCI subsequently shifted the final to Narendra Modi Stadium, which can accommodate approximately 1,20,000 spectators and has hosted the IPL final in three of the previous four editions — 2022, 2023 and 2025. Last year, RCB edged out Punjab Kings by six runs at the same venue to win their maiden title. The defending champions will now be denied a home final should they qualify.
IPL 2026 Playoffs schedule:
Qualifier 1 — May 26 — HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala
Eliminator — May 27 — New International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh
Qualifier 2 — May 29 — New International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh
Final — May 31 — Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
