IPL 2026 Full Schedule Announced: First Phase Dates, Time & Venue For All Matches

The much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) for 2026 season is right around the corner. In a major good news for cricket lovers, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on March 11th announced the schedule of the first phase of Tata IPL 2026. Here's everything that you need to know.

IPL 2026 Schedule:

BCCI announced the first phase of IPL 2026 season, which will be played from March 28 to April 12, 2026. The details of second phase of IPL will be announced later.

The reason for these schedules is the upcoming state assembly elections.

In a statement, BCCI said, " As three states are scheduled to undergo State Assembly elections during this period, the full schedule of the tournament will be announced once the poll dates are announced."

IPL 2026 Full Matches List:

During the phase 1, a total of 20 matches will be played in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

IPL 2026 First Match & Date

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) who were the champions of the previous IPL season, will kickoff the 19th edition of IPL 2026 on March 28.

RCB will compete against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The two teams will play the opening match for the season at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

IPL 2026 Matches Afternoon & Evening Time:

In 2026, the tournament will continue with its four double-headers in the afternoon and evening.

The time for afternoon matches will be 03:30 PM IST. While the evening matches will commence from 07:30 PM IST.

IPL 2026 Venues:

After the RCB vs SRH, the second day matches will be played between Mumbai Indian and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the first four double-headers will be held on April 4, 2026. On this day, Delhi Capitals will face Mumbai Indians in the afternoon match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, while Gujarat Titans will take on Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

This means that there will be one match each from March 28th to March 31st.

Furthermore, Rajasthan Royals will begin its IPL 2026 season from their home campaign in Guwahati, where they will host Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. Punjab Kings (PBKS), meanwhile, will play their early home fixtures at the PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh.

Match	Date	Day	Matchup	Venue	Time (IST)
1	28/03/26	Sat	RCB vs SRH	Bengaluru	7:30 PM
2	29/03/26	Sun	MI vs KKR	Mumbai	7:30 PM
3	30/03/26	Mon	RR vs CSK	Guwahati	7:30 PM
4	31/03/26	Tue	PBKS vs GT	New Chandigarh	7:30 PM
5	01/04/26	Wed	LSG vs DC	Lucknow	7:30 PM
6	02/04/26	Thu	KKR vs SRH	Kolkata	7:30 PM
7	03/04/26	Fri	CSK vs PBKS	Chennai	7:30 PM
8	04/04/26	Sat	DC vs MI	Delhi	3:30 PM
9	04/04/26	Sat	GT vs RR	Ahmedabad	7:30 PM
10	05/04/26	Sun	SRH vs LSG	Hyderabad	3:30 PM
11	05/04/26	Sun	RCB vs CSK	Bengaluru	7:30 PM
12	06/04/26	Mon	KKR vs PBKS	Kolkata	7:30 PM
13	07/04/26	Tue	RR vs MI	Guwahati	7:30 PM
14	08/04/26	Wed	DC vs GT	Delhi	7:30 PM
15	09/04/26	Thu	KKR vs LSG	Kolkata	7:30 PM
16	10/04/26	Fri	RR vs RCB	Guwahati	7:30 PM
17	11/04/26	Sat	PBKS vs SRH	New Chandigarh	3:30 PM
18	11/04/26	Sat	CSK vs DC	Chennai	7:30 PM
19	12/04/26	Sun	LSG vs GT	Lucknow	3:30 PM
20	12/04/26	Sun	MI vs RCB	Mumbai	7:30 PM

IPL 2026 Stadiums:

During the season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play five home matches in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Punjab Kings will play four home matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala, while Rajasthan Royals will play three home matches in Guwahati and four in Jaipur, as per the statement.

However, it needs to be noted that 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.

The name of the stadiums who will host IPL 2026 matches are:

- MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

- Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, Delhi

- Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

- Eden Gardens Stadium, Kolkata, West Bengal

- Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

- Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, Maharashtra

- Maharaja Yadavindra Singh PCA Stadium, Chandigarh, Punjab

- Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, Rajasthan

- M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, Karnataka

- Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, Telangana

IPL 2026 TEAMS:

There are 10 teams that will compete in IPL 2026. These include Chennai Super Kings (led by Ruturaj Gaikwad), Mumbai Indians (Hardik Pandya), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Rajat Patidar), Kolkata Knight Riders (Ajinkya Rahane), Gujarat Titans (Shubman Gill), Rajasthan Royals (Riyan Parag), Lucknow Super Giants (Rishabh Pant), Sunrisers Hyderabad (Pat Cummins), Delhi Capitals (Axar Patel), and Punjab Kings (Shreyas Iyer).

IPL 2026 Most Expensive Players:

For the season 2026, the most expensive player became Cameron Green by Knight Riders. Green was roped in for a whopping Rs 25.20 crore.

In total, during IPL 2026 seasonal auction, 77 players were sold including 29 overseas players with total spent about Rs 215.45 crore.

IPL 2026 Ticket Prices:

Currently, the starting price for IPL 2026 tickets are expected to be Rs 450 to Rs 850. While mid-range tickets could be priced at Rs 900 to Rs 3,000. For premium seats, the ticket prices may range from Rs 4,000 to Rs 18,000. Lastly, for VIP tickets, the price could vary from Rs 19,000 and above.

Once again, it needs to be noted that these are tentative ticket prices and could change once the official launch of the IPL booking window.