The 19th season of the Indian Premier League is set to get underway on March 28, with the grand finale scheduled for May 31 in Bengaluru. This edition
is expected to be the biggest in the tournament’s history, featuring 10 teams competing across a total of 84 matches.
The opening clash will see defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28. Although the full schedule is yet to be officially released, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that the final will be held in Bengaluru on May 31.
Teams taking part in IPL 2026
The 2026 IPL season will have ten teams fighting it out for the championship. The teams featuring in this year’s IPL are as follows:
- Chennai Super Kings
- Mumbai Indians
- Kolkata Knight Riders
- Sunrisers Hyderabad
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru
- Rajasthan Royals
- Punjab Kings
- Delhi Capitals
- Gujarat Titans
- Lucknow Super Giants
What happened in 2025?
It was a historic night for RCB as they clinched their first-ever IPL trophy, ending their 18-year drought in the competition. The Rajat Patidar-led side beat Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings in the final of the IPL 2025 to lift the cup. All-rounder Krunal Pandya was named Player of the Match for his match-winning contribution.
Young and promising batter Sai Sudharsan won the Orange Cap in the 2025 edition after scoring 759 runs in just 15 innings. Ace pacer Prasidh Krishna, on the other hand, had won the Purple Cap for taking the most number of wickets in the season. Both orange and purple caps went to players from 2022 champions Gujarat Titans.
Tournament structure
Due to the upcoming Assembly elections across five states in April and May, the complete schedule for the Indian Premier League 2026 season is yet to be released. Key states such as West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Assam, all of which are set to host matches, are among those going to the polls, prompting a phased announcement of fixtures.
As a result, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has currently unveiled the schedule for the first 20 matches, covering the period from March 28 to April 12.
The season is expected to feature a total of 84 matches, comprising 80 league-stage games and four playoff fixtures. Each of the 10 teams will play either 14 or 16 matches in the league stage.
The tournament will continue with its established playoff structure, featuring Qualifier 1, the Eliminator, Qualifier 2, and the Final, ensuring a familiar and competitive finish to the season.
Full Squads Overview
Chennai Super Kings (CSK): Ruturaj Gaikwad(C), Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Kartik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Sanju Samson, Aman Khan, Shivam Dube, Zak Foulkes, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Matthew Short, Prashant Veer, Khaleel Ahmed, Rahul Chahar, Shreyas Gopal, Gurjapneet Singh, Matt Henry, Akeal Hosein, Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Noor Ahmad.
Mumbai Indians (MI): Hardik Pandya (C), Quinton de Kock, Danish Malewar, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Sherfane Rutherford, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Atharva Ankolekar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks, Mayank Rawat, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tilak Varma, Ashwani Kumar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, AM Ghazanfar, Mayank Markande, Mohd Izhar, Raghu Sharma.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Ajinkya Rahane (C), Rinku Singh, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Dahiya, Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sarthak Ranjan, Tim Seifert, Rahul Tripathi, Daksh Kamra, Cameron Green, Sunil Narine, Rachin Ravindra, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani, Prashant Solanki, Umran Malik, Varun Chakravarthy.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB): Rajat Patidar (C), Jordan Cox, Tim David, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Jacob Bethell, Kanishk Chouhan, Venkatesh Iyer, Vihaan Malhotra, Mangesh Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Abhinandan Singh, Satvik Deswal, Jacob Duffy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vicky Ostwal, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Nuwan Thushara, Josh Hazlewood (to miss the first few games).
Delhi Capitals (DC): Axar Patel (C), Abishek Porel, David Miller, Karun Nair, Pathum Nissanka, Sahil Parakh, KL Rahul, Nitish Rana, Prithvi Shaw, Tristan Stubbs, Ajay Mandal, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Madhav Tiwari, Auqib Nabi, Dushmantha Chameera, Kyle Jamieson, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, Lungi Ngidi, Vipraj Nigam, Tripurana Vijay,Mitchell Starc.
Punjab Kings (PBKS): Shreyas Iyer (C), Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Harnoor Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Azmatullah Omarzai, Cooper Connolly, Marco Jansen, Musheer Khan, Mitchell Owen, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Praveen Dubey, Ben Dwarshuis, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Vishal Nishad, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH): Ishan Kishan, Salil Arora, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Ravichandran Smaran, Aniket Verma, Abhishek Sharma, Brydon Carse, Harsh Dubey, Krains Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshal Patel, Shivam Mavi, Shivang Kumar, Jack Edwards, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga, David Payne, Sakib Hussain, Onkar Tarmale, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, David Payne, and Pat Cummins (captain).
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG): Rishabh Pant (C), Abdul Samad, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Mukul Choudhary, Himmat Singh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Arshin Kulkarni, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Singh, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Mohsin Khan, Anrich Nortje, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Manimaran Siddharth, Arjun Tendulkar, Naman Tiwari, Mayank Yadav, and Josh Inglis.
Gujarat Titans (GT): Shubman Gill, Anuj Rawat, Tom Banton, Jos Buttler, Kumar Kushagra, Sai Sudharsan, M Shahrukh Khan, Jason Holder, Glenn Phillips, Rashid Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Manav Suthar, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Ashok Sharma, Gurnoor Brar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Prithvi Raj, Kagiso Rabada, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Luke Wood, Jayant Yadav.
Rajasthan Royals (RR): Riyan Parag (C), Aman Rao, Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Jofra Archer, Brijesh Sharma, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Adam Milne, Sushant Mishra, Vignesh Puthur, Ravi Bishnoi, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldeep Sen, Yash Raj Punja, Yudhvir Singh.
One player to watch out for from each side:
- Chennai Super Kings - Sanju Samson
- Mumbai Indians - Jasprit Bumrah
- Kolkata Knight Riders - Finn Allen
- Sunrisers Hyderabad - Abhishek Sharma
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru - Josh Hazlewood
- Rajasthan Royals - Vaibhav Suryavanshi
- Punjab Kings - Shreyas Iyer
- Delhi Capitals - KL Rahul
- Gujarat Titans - Rashid Khan
- Lucknow Super Giants - Rishabh Pant
Where to watch IPL 2026?
| Country / Region | TV Broadcaster(s) | Live Streaming Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| India | JioStar Network Channels | JioHotstar |
| Pakistan | A Sports, Ten Sports | Tapmad, Tamasha App |
| United Kingdom | Sky Sports Cricket | Sky Go, NOW TV |
| United States | Willow TV | Willow TV App |
| Canada | ATN Cricket Plus | ATN Online |
| Australia | Fox Sports, Channel 7 | Kayo Sports |
| New Zealand | Sky Sport NZ | Sky Sport Now |
| Middle East & North Africa (MENA) | beIN Sports | beIN CONNECT |
| Caribbean | SportsMax | SportsMax App |
| South Africa | SuperSport | DStv App |
| Bangladesh | Gazi TV (GTV) | Rabbithole App |
| Sri Lanka | SLRC Channel Eye | Dialog TV Go |
| Nepal & Bhutan | JioStar Network Channels | JioHotstar (via India feed) |
IPL 2026 Schedule, Dates, Teams, & Venues
| Match No. | Date | Home Team | Away Team | Venue |
| 1 | March 28 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Sunrisers Hyderabad | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru |
| 2 | March 29 | Mumbai Indians | Kolkata Knight Riders | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai |
| 3 | March 30 | Rajasthan Royals | Chennai Super Kings | Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati |
| 4 | March 31 | Punjab Kings | Gujarat Titans | Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh |
| 5 | April 01 | Lucknow Super Giants | Delhi Capitals | Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium, Lucknow |
| 6 | April 02 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Eden Gardens, Kolkata |
| 7 | April 03 | Chennai Super Kings | Punjab Kings | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai |
| 8 | April 04 | Delhi Capitals | Mumbai Indians | Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi |
| 9 | April 04 | Gujarat Titans | Rajasthan Royals | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad |
| 10 | April 05 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Lucknow Super Giants | Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad |
| 11 | April 05 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Chennai Super Kings | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru |
| 12 | April 06 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Punjab Kings | Eden Gardens, Kolkata |
| 13 | April 07 | Rajasthan Royals | Mumbai Indians | Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati |
| 14 | April 08 | Delhi Capitals | Gujarat Titans | Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi |
| 15 | April 09 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Lucknow Super Giants | Eden Gardens, Kolkata |
| 16 | April 10 | Rajasthan Royals | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati |
| 17 | April 11 | Punjab Kings | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh |
| 18 | April 11 | Chennai Super Kings | Delhi Capitals | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai |
| 19 | April 12 | Lucknow Super Giants | Gujarat Titans | Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium, Lucknow |
| 20 | April 12 | Mumbai Indians | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai |
