Former Indian Cricketer Defends Virat Kohli After RCB Stampede Tragedy: 'Franchise May Have Known'

Officially, 11 people were declared dead following a massive stampede outside of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where IPL Champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) came to be felicitated. Over 30000 people thronged to the venue, but over 2,00,000 people congregated outside, only to make matters worse for the administrators. 

There was also a clear lack of communication between the authorities and the franchise, which later revealed that they were made aware of the situation from media reports and immediately amended the programme as soon as they became aware of the stampede.

Former Indian batter Atul Wassan stated that the franchise, which he calls “thick-skinned corporate”, may have known about the incident, but refused to believe that Virat Kohli had any idea about it.

“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 by ANI.

“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."

“By the time Virat and the players would have gotten 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.

Kohli later wrote on Instagram that he was “at a loss for words. Absolutely gutted”.