'Army members were standing ready with their guns' - Fans explain evacuation process at Dharamsala stadium after IPL match called off

Due to security concerns resulting from attacks by Pakistan in various regions of India, Match No. 58 of IPL 2025 between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals was abruptly called off. This led to thousands of fans at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium evacuating the venue within moments.

The match was stopped midway, after 10.1 overs, with the Punjab Kings' score reading 122/1. Initially, fans noticed unusual activity, including the sudden stoppage of floodlights, before a complete blackout took place at the stadium. Following this, an immediate evacuation was executed without a formal announcement to avoid panic. Meanwhile, an Instagram user and his group, after leaving the stadium safely, explained the whole evacuation process as they were driving overnight to reach Jaipur.

"So the current update is that we had just come to Dharamsala to watch the match and you are already seeing the news of attacks, blasts that happened just now with missiles were being fired so suddenly the entire match got suspended and we were inside the ground suddenly we all evacuated them from the ground there was a little bit of a commotion so now we left from there but the challenge now is that we have to reach Jaipur from here. Jaipur is almost 800 kilometers away from us. And I had told you the story in short, what happened? So we were inside the ground,

I think there were about 10 overs done, and after that, there was a little bit of a situation where the army personnel became very active, and in our wing, there were a lot of army men, there were some snipers, etc. There were 8-10 army members, they were standing ready with their guns and alerting people. And after some time, we received phone calls from our family member,s and they informed us about the firing and blasts taking place at Pathankot (Punjab). So we received that call, and after that, all the lights were shut in the stadium, and then people started vacating quickly, and within minutes, the stadium was empty. Earlier, during one of the overs, a light went off and we were not understanding what was happening, and again another light went off, and after that, the VIPs started vacating the ground," Fan named Shubham Gautam said on Instagram.

Check the post below: 

Emergency meeting of IPL Governing Council to be held

Many videos circulating on social media showed IPL Governing Council Chairman Arun Dhumal personally urging fans to evacuate the stadium. Cheerleaders, support staff, players, and even co-owner Preity Zinta were quickly moved out. One cheerleader shared a video of the blackout and the evacuation.

The blackout and evacuation were triggered by escalating tensions at the Indo-Pak border. Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan launched a series of attacks across various regions in North India using drones and missiles. This incident took place after India’s counterattack under Operation Sindoor was in retaliation for April’s terror strike in Pahalgam.

The BCCI has since confirmed that a special train is being arranged to transport the players, staff, and officials from Dharamsala to Delhi. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia revealed that the safety of all is of the utmost priority and that further decisions regarding the IPL 2025 season would depend on government directives. Notably, an emergency meeting of the IPL Governing Council is scheduled to be held, with a potential suspension of the tournament in talks.