IPL 2026 Schedule, Team, Venue, Time Table, PDF, Points Table, Ranking & Winning Predictions

IPL 2026 Schedule: The BCCI has confirmed that TATA IPL 2026 will run from March 26 to May 31, 2026. The nineteenth season of the Indian Premier League is set to be played with 84 matches in double round-robin format. All 10 teams will play each other twice in the league stage followed by playoffs. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are the defending champions, having won their maiden IPL title in 2025 by defeating Punjab Kings in the final.

The IPL 2026 will return to the home and away format. Each team will play their home games at their home venues. The tournament will be played for 66 days with matches in two time slots — 3:30 PM IST and 7:30 PM IST.

The start date was revised from the initially announced March 15 to March 26, to allow a three-week gap after the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup final (co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka), scheduled on March 8.

Here in this article, we will discuss the IPL 2026 schedule, teams, venues, time table, PDF download, points table predictions, rankings, and winning predictions — all you need to know.

Latest Update (February 22, 2026): The BCCI has not yet released the full fixture-by-fixture schedule as of today. The delay is due to pending Assembly election dates in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and other states, which may clash with match dates. Additionally, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is yet to receive full safety clearance for the season opener. The schedule is expected by the end of February 2026. The IPL 2026 mini-auction was completed on December 16, 2025 in Abu Dhabi. All 10 team captains have now been confirmed.

Schedule is announced here is image, we will add more details soon.

Also Read: IPL 2026 Super 8 Points Table 

IPL 2026 Schedule

The TATA IPL 2026 is scheduled to begin on 26th March and the final of the premier tournament is set to be held on 31st May. The tournament will have 84 matches including playoffs. The season opener was traditionally set to be hosted by defending champions RCB at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, but a safety clearance delay may force BCCI to shift the opening match to DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai or Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

IPL 2026 Tournament Dates:

• Start Date: March 26, 2026
• End Date: May 31, 2026
• Total Matches: 84 matches
• Format: Double round-robin + playoffs
• Duration: 66 days
• Title Sponsor: TATA Group (2024–2028, ₹2,500 crore deal)

Match Timings:

• Afternoon Match: 3:30 PM IST (weekend double-headers)
• Evening Match: 7:30 PM IST (most matches)

The complete fixture list with match dates and team combinations has not yet been officially released by the BCCI. It is expected by end of February 2026. Check iplt20.com for official announcements.

IPL 2026 Auction — Completed

The IPL 2026 mini-auction was held on December 16, 2025 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE. A total of 1,355 players registered, of which 369 were shortlisted and 77 players were sold, with a combined spend of ₹215.45 crore across all franchises.

Key Auction Highlights

• Cameron Green (Australia) became the most expensive overseas player in IPL history, bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹25.20 crore.
• Matheesha Pathirana (Sri Lanka) was bought by KKR for ₹18 crore.
• Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma became the joint-most expensive uncapped players in IPL history, each bought by Chennai Super Kings for ₹14.20 crore.
• Liam Livingstone was acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹13 crore.
• Auqib Nabi Dar was bought by Delhi Capitals for ₹8.40 crore.
• Josh Inglis went to Lucknow Super Giants for ₹8.60 crore.
• Notable unsold players: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Jonny Bairstow, Devon Conway, Alzarri Joseph, Gus Atkinson, Daryl Mitchell.

Important Auction Details

Post-Auction Development

In January 2026, following anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh and geopolitical tensions, the BCCI instructed KKR to release Bangladeshi fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman (who had been bought for ₹9.20 crore) from their squad. BCCI permitted KKR to name a replacement player. As a consequence, the Bangladesh government banned the broadcast of the IPL in their country, and Bangladesh withdrew from the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup in India.

IPL 2026 Major Transfers and Trades

Several high-profile player transfers and trades ahead of the auction reshaped team strategies significantly:

• Ravindra Jadeja: Traded from Chennai Super Kings to Rajasthan Royals.
• Sanju Samson: Moved from Rajasthan Royals to Chennai Super Kings in a swap deal involving Jadeja.
• Andre Russell: Released by Kolkata Knight Riders after a long and successful stint; opted to miss IPL 2026.
• Venkatesh Iyer: Released by KKR; bought by Royal Challengers Bengaluru at auction for ₹7 crore.
• Glenn Maxwell: Released by Royal Challengers Bengaluru; opted to miss the tournament.
• Faf du Plessis: Also chose to opt out of IPL 2026.
• Arjun Tendulkar: Traded from Mumbai Indians to Lucknow Super Giants.
• Shardul Thakur: Traded from LSG to Mumbai Indians.
• Sherfane Rutherford: Traded from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians.
• Nitish Rana: Traded from Rajasthan Royals to Delhi Capitals.
• Mohammed Shami: Traded to Lucknow Super Giants.
• Punjab Kings retained a record 21 players ahead of the auction.

IPL 2026 Teams & Captains

The IPL 2026 will feature the same 10 teams. All team captains have now been confirmed ahead of the season:

Key captaincy changes from 2025: Axar Patel replaces Rishabh Pant at DC (Pant moved to LSG); Riyan Parag takes over RR following Sanju Samson's trade to CSK; Rajat Patidar confirmed as RCB captain after leading them to the 2025 title.

Also read: Will MS Dhoni Return for IPL 2026

IPL 2026 Teams Squads

All 10 squads of 25 players each were finalized after the December 16, 2025 auction. A total of 173 players were retained before the auction.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad | Coach: Stephen Fleming

Key Players: MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson (traded in), Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Khaleel Ahmed, Jamie Overton, Anshul Kamboj, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Chahar, Sarfaraz Khan, Prashant Veer, Kartik Sharma, Matthew Short, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Zak Foulkes, Aman Khan, Urvil Patel, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh.

Delhi Capitals (DC)

Captain: Axar Patel | Coach: Hemang Badani

Key Players: KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, Tristan Stubbs, Nitish Rana (traded), Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair, Auqib Nabi Dar, Pathum Nissanka, David Miller, Ben Duckett, Lungi Ngidi, Kyle Jamieson, Abishek Porel, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Madhav Tiwari, Vipraj Nigam, Tripurana Vijay, Mitchell Starc, Prithiv Shaw, Sahil Parikh.

Gujarat Titans (GT)

Captain: Shubman Gill | Coach: Ashish Nehra

Key Players: Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, B Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, R Sai Kishore, Jason Holder, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Gurnoor Brar, Jayant Yadav, Kumar Kushagra, Nishant Sindhu, M Shahrukh Khan, Manav Suthar, Tom Banton, Ishant Sharma, Arshad Khan, Luke Wood, Ashok Sharma, Prithvi Raj.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Captain: Ajinkya Rahane | Coach: Chandrakant Pandit

Key Players: Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Cameron Green, Matheesha Pathirana, Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Akash Deep, Tejasvi Singh, Tim Seifert, Rahul Tripathi, Prashant Solanki, Kartik Tyagi, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, TBA (replacement for Mustafizur Rahman).

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

Captain: Rishabh Pant | Coach: Justin Langer

Key Players: Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Arjun Tendulkar (traded), Mohammed Shami (traded), Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Ayush Badoni, Arshin Kulkarni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Mohsin Khan, Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Inglis, Mukul Choudhary, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Wanindu Hasaranga, Anrich Nortje, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Naman Tiwari.

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Captain: Hardik Pandya | Coach: Mahela Jayawardene

Key Players: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Ryan Rickelton, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur (traded), Sherfane Rutherford (traded), Will Jacks, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Corbin Bosch, Robin Minz, Deepak Chahar, Raj Bawa, Raghu Sharma, Ashwani Kumar, AM Ghazanfar, Quinton de Kock, Atharva Ankolekar, Danish Malewar, Mayank Rawat, Mayank Markande (traded), Mohammad Izhar.

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Captain: Shreyas Iyer | Coach: Ricky Ponting

Punjab Kings retained a record 21 players ahead of the auction, the most of any franchise. PBKS were runners-up in IPL 2025 under Shreyas Iyer's captaincy.

Key Retained Players: Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, Marcus Stoinis, Lockie Ferguson, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Musheer Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar, Mitch Owen, Harnoor Singh Pannu and others.

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Captain: Riyan Parag | Coach: Rahul Dravid

Note: Although Ravindra Jadeja joined RR through the high-profile trade, the management appointed Riyan Parag as captain following a review process. RR home matches may be affected by safety clearance issues at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Key Players: Riyan Parag, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Bishnoi (bought for ₹7.20 crore), and others.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) — Defending Champions

Captain: Rajat Patidar | Coach: Andy Flower

RCB won their first-ever IPL title in 2025, defeating Punjab Kings in the final. Virat Kohli retained; Venkatesh Iyer bought from KKR for ₹7 crore.

Key Players: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Romario Shepherd, Vicky Ostwal, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Mangesh Yadav, Yash Dayal, Jordan Cox, Jaco Bethell, Jacob Duffy, Nuwan Thushara, Satwik Deswal, Kanishk Chouhan, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Captain: Pat Cummins | Coach: Daniel Vettori

Key Players: Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Brydon Carse, Ishan Kishan, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Liam Livingstone, Jaydev Unadkat, Shivam Mavi, Harsh Dubey, Aniket Verma, R Smaran, Salil Arora, Shivang Kumar, Jack Edwards, Eshan Malinga, Amit Kumar, Krains Fuletra, Zeeshan Ansari, Onkar Tarmale, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge.

IPL 2026 Venues

The IPL 2026 will use the home and away format. A total of 11 stadiums are expected to host matches. The opening match venue at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru is uncertain due to pending safety clearance.

* Sawai Mansingh Stadium (Jaipur) and M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru) are pending safety clearances. Some of their home matches may be shifted to neutral venues such as DY Patil Stadium (Mumbai) or MCA Stadium (Pune). The BCCI is also awaiting Assembly election dates in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Kerala before finalising the complete schedule.

IPL 2026 Points Table

The tournament has not yet begun (starting March 26, 2026). The points table below is a predicted one based on current squad analysis, auction results, and team balance. The top 4 teams from the 10-team table will qualify for the playoffs.

Predicted IPL 2026 Points Table (League Stage):

This is a predicted points table based on current squad strength and team analysis. The actual table will depend entirely on match results and will be updated live at iplt20.com once the tournament begins.

IPL 2026 Winning Predictions

Based on squad depth, auction outcomes, defending champion advantage, and past performance, here are the early winning predictions for IPL 2026:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru enter as defending champions with a settled squad and the leadership continuity of Rajat Patidar and Virat Kohli. Kolkata Knight Riders made the biggest splash at auction, investing heavily in Cameron Green and Matheesha Pathirana to build a formidable new core. Mumbai Indians retain their all-star nucleus of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav. Punjab Kings, runners-up in 2025 under Shreyas Iyer with the largest retained squad, are also strong contenders.

These are early pre-season predictions. Odds will shift significantly based on form, injuries, and venue factors during the tournament.

IPL 2026 Live Streaming

The IPL 2026 matches will be shown live on TV and online platforms. The broadcasting rights remain with JioStar for the remainder of the 2023–2027 cycle.

TV Channels (India):

• Star Sports 1
• Star Sports 1 HD
• Star Sports 1 Hindi
• Star Sports Select 1

Online Streaming:

• JioHotstar (formerly JioCinema — rebranded after merger)
• Disney+ Hotstar

International TV:

• UK: Sky Sports Cricket
• USA: Willow TV
• Australia: Fox Cricket
• South Africa: SuperSport
• Bangladesh: IPL broadcast has been banned by the Bangladesh government.

Languages: Commentary will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, and other regional languages.

IPL 2026 Time Table

The complete IPL 2026 time table will have 84 matches spread over 66 days.

League Stage: 70 matches (each team plays 14 matches — 7 home, 7 away)
Playoffs: 4 matches (Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2, Final)

Match Schedule:

• Afternoon: 3:30 PM IST (Weekend double-headers)
• Evening: 7:30 PM IST (Most matches)

Playoffs Format:

• Qualifier 1: 1st vs 2nd team
• Eliminator: 3rd vs 4th team
• Qualifier 2: Loser of Q1 vs Winner of Eliminator
• Final: Winner of Q1 vs Winner of Q2 — May 31, 2026

Detailed match schedule with dates and venues will be released by BCCI — expected by end of February 2026.

IPL 2026 Schedule PDF Download

The official IPL 2026 schedule PDF has not yet been released by BCCI as of February 22, 2026. The announcement is delayed due to pending state election dates and venue clearances. It is expected to be available by the end of February 2026.

What will be in the IPL 2026 PDF:

• All 84 match fixtures
• Match dates and timings
• Venue details
• Team-wise fixtures
• Playoff schedule
• TV broadcast details

Where to Download (once released):

• Official IPL website: iplt20.com
• BCCI website: bcci.tv
• Team official websites

Summary

TATA IPL 2026 is confirmed to run from March 26 to May 31, 2026 with 84 matches across 10 teams in a home-and-away format. Royal Challengers Bengaluru enter as the defending champions after their historic maiden IPL title win in 2025. The mini-auction was completed on December 16, 2025 in Abu Dhabi, with Cameron Green (KKR, ₹25.20 crore) and uncapped duo Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma (CSK, ₹14.20 crore each) among the top buys. All 10 team captains have now been confirmed. The full match-by-match schedule is expected from BCCI by end of February 2026, currently delayed by pending election dates and venue clearances.

Fans can watch IPL 2026 live on Star Sports channels and on JioHotstar online. Stay updated with official announcements from BCCI at iplt20.com.

Last updated: February 22, 2026. This article will be further updated with the official schedule once released by BCCI.