Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has commented and tried to make sense of the tragic Bengaluru stampede last week, which took the lives of 11 people and left several others injured during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)’s celebration of their IPL 2025 title. Gavaskar, in his column for Mid-Day, said it was ‘heartbreaking’ to see people lose their lives just to get a glimpse of their heroes. He said it was ‘understandable’ for the fans’ joy to be boundless after an 18-year-long wait to see their favorite team lift the trophy, adding that it was now ‘futile’ to blame anyone for it. “The loss of lives due to a stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium is heartbreaking indeed,” Gavaskar wrote. “All that those people wanted was a glimpse of the players who had given them so much joy and happiness over the years, especially in the last two months. The IPL Trophy, which they kept hoping would be theirs every year but never did, was finally coming to them after a wait of 18 years. It was totally understandable for their joy to know no bounds and they wanted to show it to their heroes… For some to have been crushed to death and many still injured and in hospital was truly a tragic turn of events. There is no point blaming anyone. That’s futile as the lives can’t be brought back and some injuries may never heal properly, especially the mental ones.” Gavaskar went on to boldly claim that such a tragedy might never have happened had RCB won the title in the first few years of the tournament, which, he thinks, would have prevented such ‘outpouring of emotion’. “If RCB had won the Trophy in the first few years, there would not have been this outpouring of emotion as happened after the long wait of 18 years. Other teams have won but their celebrations have been a lot less frenetic maybe because their fans didn’t have to wait this long. The slogan ‘Ee saala cup naamde’ seemed to be like a millstone around the necks of the team. This year, when that slogan was barely heard, the team played some superb cricket, most of it away from their fans. They won every single game they played away, which is a new record in the IPL. No wonder the home fans wanted to give them a special ovation. Heartfelt condolences to those who lost their loved ones,” he added.