The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released the schedule for the first
20 matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, covering the period from March 28 to April 12, 2026.
This partial itinerary includes 10 venues and features four double-headers.
The season opens with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) hosting Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28.
The league will be played in two phases, with the remainder of the schedule to follow, due to state assembly elections.
Highlights include
MI vs KKR (March 29), RR vs CSK (March 30), and key double-headers on April 5.
RCB will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala. Rajasthan Royals will split home games between Guwahati (three) and Jaipur (four).
Matches in Bengaluru require safety clearance.
However, the matches at the Chinnaswamy, however, remain subject to clearance from an expert committee constituted by the Karnataka state government. The committee will conduct a meeting and inspection of the
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 13, 2026, amidst which a full-scale mock demonstration of match-day arrangements will be carried out to assess the stadium’s preparedness for hosting IPL matches,” an IPL release has said.
The second game of the opening weekend will feature Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The opening weekend will not feature double-headers.
With elections scheduled in several states including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam, where KKR, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals have home grounds, the IPL has decided to release the tournament schedule in two phases. On Wednesday the IPL announced the first phase comprising 20 matches, including four double-headers over the weekends of April 4-5 and April 11-12.
All ten teams will play four games each in this phase of the tournament, but it could not be confirmed how the teams have been grouped. In every IPL season that has involved ten teams, the teams have been split into two virtual groups, with each team meeting the teams in their own group twice each, and the teams in the opposite group once each.
This will be the second instance of RCB and SRH facing off in the opening match of an IPL season. They previously did so in 2017, when SRH were the defending champions and RCB the runners-up. For SRH, this will be their second appearance in an IPL opener, while for RCB, this is the seventh such occasion.
RR will wrap up the Guwahati leg of their season in this first phase, which includes three matches at the venue. Their other four home games are set be played at their primary home ground, the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Two other teams have secondary home grounds this season. RCB will play two matches in Raipur and Punjab Kings (PBKS) three matches in Dharamsala.
Since the IPL began in 2008, the schedule has been announced in two parts whenever the country has had general elections – in 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024 – or states involved in the tournament have had assembly elections.
News Editor KV Raman
