“At this point, nobody even cares,” a cricket fan from Mumbai lamented after the Indian Premier League 2026 final was once again allotted to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Ardent fans of the sport will now once again pack their bags and travel to the familiar landscape where yet another summit clash of a cricket tournament is going to be played.
This is the fourth time in five years that the IPL final is set to be played in Ahmedabad. Traditionally, the defending champions, in this year’s case Royal Challengers Bengaluru, are given the privilege of hosting the summit clash.
However, in back-to-back years, that privilege has been taken away from Eden Gardens, home of the 2024 champions Kolkata Knight Riders, and of course, RCB, who won the tournament in 2025.
The Indian cricket board has been very clear about why Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium is not hosting the summit clash this year. In an interview, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said the board had flagged the conduct of Karnataka’s political class, which had allegedly demanded 10,000 free tickets ahead of the high-profile game.
This was on top of the 15 per cent allocation that the BCCI already gives the state association hosting the match. With nearly 16,000 of the 40,000 tickets effectively gone before public sale, the BCCI perhaps asked itself: why hand such a marquee game to a venue that has repeatedly brought unwanted controversy to Indian cricket — from the stampede issue to the recurring chaos around ticket allocation, which resurfaced right at the start of IPL 2026 as well?
And that is fair enough. The BCCI has every right to rein in a state association if it believes the board is being arm-twisted through undue pressure. But then, how does it justify taking the 2025 final away from Eden Gardens?
An iconic venue in Indian cricket, the final match at Eden Gardens was taken away by the BCCI citing weather concerns. The board had stated that rain was expected in Kolkata during the IPL final and, to remain safe, they shifted the game to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
This is the same venue in Ahmedabad where the 2023 final took two days to complete, making it a logistical nightmare for many travelling spectators.
Ironically, the weather held up in Kolkata on the day of the final in 2025, which made the decision look harsher in hindsight.
“I am so tired of watching finals from the stadium. 2022. 2023 two finals. 2025. 2026 two finals,” an X user tweeted on the day of the announcement.
“Despite being a proud Amdavadi. Despite being proud of having a spectacular venue like the Narendra Modi Stadium in my city. I believe too many big matches are being played here,” another added.
WHY IS AHMEDABAD GETTING ALL CRICKET FINALS?
Let us argue that the BCCI is granting big games to just one stadium in the country.
If we hold that as a baseline, India is not the first country to allot its biggest games to a single venue.
Australia have the Melbourne Cricket Ground. England have Lord’s. And if we turn our attention to football, London’s Wembley Stadium consistently hosts the biggest international matches through the years.
In a way, it is the association or the country telling the world: this is the consistency we are offering to fans, domestic or travelling.
Another facet is stadium capacity. The Narendra Modi Stadium can hold more than 1,00,000 spectators.
BCCI sources told IndiaToday.in that Ahmedabad has started becoming the preferred destination because a large number of tickets can still be sold even after allotting passes to the host association and stakeholders.
There is also the question of optics. Ahmedabad simply looks grander on television. The aerial shots, packed stands and large-scale ceremonies help create the feeling of a mega event, something broadcasters and administrators naturally gravitate towards for a final.
And perhaps that is where Ahmedabad’s real strength lies. It is not merely a cricket stadium any more, but increasingly the default stage for Indian cricket’s biggest spectacles.
IS THAT FAIR TO THE REST OF THE STADIUMS IN INDIA?
Ahmedabad perhaps does not yet carry the generational emotion and history of venues like Eden Gardens, Wankhede or Chepauk.
And these venues not getting any finals, of course, does not sit well with the fans.
In recent years, frustration has also been directed at the BCCI for not adequately compensating those centres with other marquee matches. If the board wants Ahmedabad to host the biggest game for whatever reason, then the next tier of high-profile fixtures should at least rotate across the country’s major stadiums.
But this should not absolve the BCCI of its double standards either.
The board did not allot Women’s World Cup matches to centres like Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, stating that it wanted to take games to smaller centres.
But when it comes to the men’s T20 World Cup, Chennai and Delhi were not given even a single semi-final. And perhaps that outlines the frustration of the associations.
IPL WAS BUILT ON CITY IDENTITY
One of the reasons why the IPL became such a massive cultural force in India was because it never truly felt neutral. Chennai belonged to Chepauk. Mumbai belonged to the Wankhede. Kolkata’s pulse beat through Eden Gardens, while Bengaluru turned the Chinnaswamy Stadium into a yearly carnival.
The league was built on geography as much as cricket.
Fans did not just support teams, they supported cities, local cultures and home venues that slowly became extensions of the franchises themselves. The IPL final traveling across the country was part of that ecosystem as well. It allowed different fanbases to feel ownership over the league’s biggest night.
And perhaps that is where some of the discomfort around Ahmedabad stems from. If every major game starts gravitating towards one centre, the tournament slowly risks losing some of its regional texture.
And in a diverse country like India, point A to point B is not a maximum three-hour drive away. It perhaps feels a lot worse when the festival of cricket does not come around you for a prolonged amount of time.
And it is time that the BCCI looks into it. It is alright if India has fixed centres for major international games, but a competition like the IPL should remain pan-Indian.
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