According to the IPL 2026 schedule announced on Wednesday, defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore will host Sunrisers Hyderabad in the first match of the upcoming Indian Premier League season on March 28 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
After announcing the IPL 2026 start date earlier this week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released the preliminary schedule for the 19th Indian Premier League. IPL 2026 will feature 84 matches in a new format – 10 more than the previous season.
Due to the upcoming assembly elections in India, only the first 20 matches of the 2026 Indian Premier League have been announced. The matches of the second phase of the IPL will be announced later. The IPL is one of the world’s highest-grossing and most-watched franchise T20 cricket tournaments.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Mumbai Indians (MI), Gujarat Titans (GT), Delhi Capitals (DC), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Punjab Kings (PBKS), and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are the 10 teams competing for the IPL 2026 title.
After the first match on March 28, five-time champions Mumbai Indians will face three-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders at their home ground on March 29. The next day, five-time winners Chennai Super Kings will play the inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals at their home ground.
Ravindra Jadeja and Sanju Samson, the Player of the Tournament in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2026, will be in the spotlight in this match, as Jadeja joined RR from CSK in a pre-season trade, and Samson went to CSK.
This year’s IPL will feature a total of 84 matches, 10 more than last season. All teams will play each other twice in a double round-robin format – one at home and one away. The top four teams will advance to the playoffs, which will consist of four matches.
This format is based on the format used in IPL 2021. It was slightly modified in 2022 after the addition of the Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. After the group stage, the top two teams will face each other in Qualifier 1, with the winner advancing directly to the final.
The IPL teams that finished third and fourth in the league stage will play in Eliminator 1, with the winner facing the loser of Qualifier 1 in Qualifier 2 to determine the second finalist. Until now, every 10-team IPL season has divided the teams into two virtual groups.
Each team faces the other teams in its group twice, as well as a designated opponent from the other group, and the remaining four teams in the league stage face each other once. Get all the venue and match details for the upcoming Indian Premier League season.
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IPL 2026: Phase 1 Schedule
Verified matches match the query exactly; times are IST.
| Date | Match | Time | Venue |
| March 28 (Sat) | RCB vs SRH | 7:30 PM | Bengaluru |
| March 29 (Sun) | MI vs KKR | 7:30 PM | Mumbai |
| March 30 (Mon) | RR vs CSK | 7:30 PM | Guwahati |
| March 31 (Tue) | PBKS vs GT | 7:30 PM | Mullanpur |
| April 1 (Wed) | LSG vs DC | 7:30 PM | Lucknow |
| April 2 (Thu) | KKR vs SRH | 7:30 PM | Kolkata |
| April 3 (Fri) | CSK vs PBKS | 7:30 PM | Chennai |
| April 4 (Sat) | DC vs MI | 3:30 PM | Delhi |
| April 4 (Sat) | GT vs RR | 7:30 PM | Ahmedabad |
| April 5 (Sun) | SRH vs LSG | 3:30 PM | Hyderabad |
| April 5 (Sun) | RCB vs CSK | 7:30 PM | Bengaluru |
| April 6 (Mon) | KKR vs PBKS | 7:30 PM | Kolkata |
| April 7 (Tue) | RR vs MI | 7:30 PM | Guwahati |
| April 8 (Wed) | DC vs GT | 7:30 PM | Delhi |
| April 9 (Thu) | KKR vs LSG | 7:30 PM | Kolkata |
| April 10 (Fri) | RR vs RCB | 7:30 PM | Guwahati |
| April 11 (Sat) | PBKS vs SRH | 3:30 PM | Mullanpur |
| April 11 (Sat) | CSK vs DC | 7:30 PM | Chennai |
| April 12 (Sun) | LSG vs GT | 3:30 PM | Lucknow |
| April 12 (Sun) | MI vs RCB | 7:30 PM | Mumbai |
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IPL 2026 Venues
- Bengaluru – M Chinnaswamy Stadium
- Ahmedabad – Narendra Modi Stadium
- Guwahati – ACA Stadium
- Kolkata – Eden Gardens
- Chennai – MA Chidambaram Stadium
- Lucknow – Ekana Stadium
- Delhi – Arun Jaitley Stadium
- Hyderabad – Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium
- Mumbai – Wankhede Stadium
- Mullanpur – New PCA Stadium
BCCI has released the schedule for the first 20 matches of the Indian Premier League 2026. The first match will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The first match of IPL 2026 will be played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The schedule for the remaining matches will be announced later. The BCCI will decide on the future schedule based on the dates of the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Assam.
From the Chennai Super Kings to the Lucknow Super Giants, several other teams have already begun preparations for IPL 2026, and players are working hard in training camps. RCB will play as the defending champions, with their first match scheduled against SRH on March 28.
In addition, the Royal Challengers Bangalore team will play five of its home matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, while two will be played in Raipur. The crisis surrounding matches at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium remains unresolved. Last year, a stampede outside the stadium following RCB’s victory claimed 11 lives. Matches in Bengaluru will only be possible if approval is received from an expert committee formed by the Karnataka government.