Bangalore: Five security personnel were injured in a low-intensity blast in a wall of the Chinnaswamy stadium here on Saturday, half-an-hour before the toss of an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the venue.
Bangalore police commissioner Shankar Bidari confirmed that explosives were used to trigger the blast in the outer wall of gate 12 of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) stadium popularly known as the Chinnaswamy stadium.
The blast damaged portions of the wall and four state police constables and a security guard were injured.
“The injuries are not very grave in nature. The situation is under control and there is no reason to panic,” Bidari said.
The targeted portion of the stadium is far from the actual playing field and the players and all public were safe, the police commissioner said.
Local team Royal Challengers Bangalore is playing Mumbai Indians at the venue Saturday. Mumbai Indians have also secured a berth in the semi-finals, but the Bangalore team is still to seal its place in the last four.
The blast, that went off 45 minutes before play started, caused a delay by one hour in the start of play with the teams taking to the pitch at 5 p.m.
The IPL was shifted out to South Africa in its second edition last year after the Indian government had refused to commit fool-proof security to the tournament.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday confirmed the nature of the incident which occurred at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore this afternoon.
As a result, Bangalore Police closed the gate and investigated the cause of the explosion.
After the investigation was completed and Bangalore Police was satisfied that the match should proceed, the start time was revised to 5:00 pm.