The joyous celebration of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s maiden IPL trophy win was marred by a tragic stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, an incident that claimed 11 lives and left many injured. Former India cricketer Atul Wassan believes that had Virat Kohli been aware of the unfolding disaster, he would have immediately stepped away from the festivities.
While RCB was being felicitated by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah at Vidhana Soudha before moving to the stadium for another ceremony, chaos erupted outside. Despite the grim news, the celebrations continued, drawing significant criticism. However, Wassan suggests that Kohli might have been unaware of the severity of the situation.
“I cannot believe in a million years that Virat Kohli knew that people were dying outside, and the felicitation was going inside,” Wassan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. He drew a sharp contrast, stating, “The politicians, I can believe, because they’re ruthless, thick-skinned and so is the corporate, which is the RCB franchise. The franchisees don’t care because they have to show the balance sheets, and they have to show revenue. They would have known maybe. It was a lack of communication.”
Wassan further elaborated on his conviction regarding Kohli’s potential ignorance. “By the time Virat and the players would have got to know, they didn’t have any say in it. If Virat had known, he would have immediately walked out. I cannot believe that Virat knew and this has happened. But very sad, very tragic,” he added. The stampede, which occurred as a massive crowd gathered to see the cricket stars, resulted in 11 deaths and 33 injuries, as confirmed by CM Siddaramaiah.
This is sad.
