IPL 2026 Schedule LIVE: In just a few minutes, the schedule for the first 20 days of the Indian Premier League season 19 will be revealed before the IPL 2026 season starts in earnest in just over two weeks’ time. But The Indian Express can reveal that the IPL 2026 season will start with a clash between defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru and former champions Sunrisers Hyderabad at Bengaluru
(Scroll down for the first phase schedule of IPL 2026 and team-wise schedule breakdown)
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The official broadcasters have announced that all IPL 2026 games in Bengaluru are subject to clearance by an expert committee on March 13. A statement from IPL noted: The matches scheduled in Bengaluru are subject to clearance from the Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Karnataka. The committee will conduct a meeting and inspection of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 13, 2026, during which a full-scale mock demonstration of match-day arrangements will be carried out to assess the stadium’s preparedness for hosting IPL matches.
All 10 teams are already in preparation mode, with players assembling across the country for camps, many of them having played for their national teams recently at the T20 World Cup. With elections in multiple states like Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala making the IPL schedule tricky, it’s expected that the schedule will only be announced for the first 20 days of the season.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru come into IPL 19 as the defending champions while Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will be the most successful (each having won five titles). RCB are expected to play only a portion of their matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru with Raipur slotted to host their home games as well.
There has been plenty of churn in all the 10 teams’ squads since the last season.
Scroll down for live updates about the IPL 2026 schedule and news about what the 10 teams are up to
IPL 2026 start date announced, league set to begin on March 28
Hyderabad and Kolkata were supposed to host the play-offs as per the original dates but the IPL schedule had to be revised in the wake of the India-Pakistan military conflict that halted the event for a week. (Sportzpics)
The start date of the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League was officially confirmed on Sunday by the official broadcaster as well as several franchises with the tournament set to begin on March 28 which is a Saturday. However, the schedule wasn’t announced just yet.
This is reportedly due to BCCI opting to release the fixtures in two phases as they wait for the Election commission to announce dates for elections in West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu. The first phase of the fixtures are expected tpo be announced pretty soon while the second phase will be announced after the election dates are fixed in these 3 states.
