A poor home show; Decoding impact of Chinnaswamy stadium for RCB ahead of IPL 2026

Chinnaswamy Stadium - (Source: RCBblood/X.com)

IPL 2026 is around the corner, with just three months left for the cash-studded league. Ahead of the new season, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru face a daunting task, which is to decide their venue for the next edition.

For the unversed, an unfortunate incident occurred a day after the final, where 11 souls lost their lives in a stampede. It led to the government taking strict actions against the officials, and as a result, Chinnaswamy was barred from hosting any further events.  

Now, there is a debate whether the government will allow Chinnaswamy Stadium to host IPL games or not or whether the defending champions will hunt for a new home. 

Meanwhile, this article will analyse RCB's stats at home and away from home to determine the extent of impact the Challengers will have if they shift away from Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Chinnaswamy Stadium's history

Let's look at overall history of Chinnaswamy Stadium in IPL. 

Talking about the data, overall, Chinnaswamy Stadium has hosted 100 games in IPL, out of which 53 times, batting second have won the game. 

Now, lets shift the focus towards how has RCB performed at Chinnaswamy and away from home. 

RCB's performance at Chinnaswamy Stadium

Key Takeaways

• RCB have a poor track record at home as they have just 48.2 % winning rate at Chinnaswamy Stadium, which is one of the worst among IPL franchises. Thus, the defending champions never got the chance to really boast the 'home dominance' tag. 
• The Challengers have played 116 matches and won just 56 matches at home and lost a whopping 55 games.

RCB's performance away from Chinnaswamy Stadium

Key Takeaways

• Interstingly, RCB have played more away games than home. Out of 170 matches played outside, the Challengers have won 83 matches and lost 85 games, resulting in a winning percentage of just 48.8%. 
• Further, if we look at the stats, RCB neither have good stats at home nor away from home, contrary to the belief that they actually perform better away from home.

Will RCB be impacted by shifting away from Chinnaswamy Stadium?

Chinnaswamy Stadium is different from other places for multiple reasons. Firstly, the drainage system here is the finest in the world. So, on numerous occasions, the matches where points should have been shared, the ground was ready in time and the match went in RCB's favour. So if RCB shift their base, they won't have such facility anywhere else, which is bad for any team.

Since, there is not much difference between RCB's performance at home and away from home, it is better if the team continues to play at home because of the above mentioned reasons. Thus, Rajat Patidar and his men will be deeply affected if they will be asked to move away from home.

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