India, March 25 -- Just before IPL19 begins, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium will include at its core an XI that has slipped from public memory: Divyanshi BS, 14, Shivalanga Chandappa, 17, Shravan KT, 18, Chinmayi Shetty, 19, Bhoomik Lakshman, 19, Manoj Kumar 20, Prajwal G, 22, Sahana Rajesh, 25, Akshata Pai, 26, Poorna Chandra, 26 and Kamakshi Devi, 29. They are, in order of age, the 11 fans who died in a stampede at the stadium on the afternoon of June 4, 2025.

That stampede is India's most grievous sporting disaster this century. On August 26, 1980, 16 fans died during a Kolkata Derby at the Eden Gardens; again in a stampede that followed fighting in the stands. On November 26, 1995, 13 people were killed when a badly-built wall collapsed i...