RCB players to wear jersey No 11 for practice to honour stampede victims

Royal Challengers Bengaluru players will train wearing jersey No.11 during match days in the upcoming IPL and the franchise also plans to mark 11 permanent seats in honour of the fans who died in a tragic stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here last year.

The fans had lost their lives on June 4 in a stampede that was triggered by chaos during RCB’s celebratory events after the team’s maiden IPL trophy win. The franchise had copped massive criticism for its handling of the celebrations, which drew lakhs to the streets without requisite security clearances.

“The players will be wearing jersey No.11 for the practice on the game day — the practice time before the match,” RCB CEO Rajesh Menon told reporters here on Tuesday.

“All the players will have jersey No.11 on their back, not for the game, but for the practice. “Apart from that, they will be also wearing black sunglasses on that day. We are also looking at having 11 permanent seats in Chinnaswamy Stadium forever. This is for the 11 fans who will be with us forever,” he added.

The defending champions will be playing their season-opener here on March 28 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in what will be the first of their five home matches at this venue.

RCB are set to play their remaining two home matches at Raipur’s Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium this IPL.