Mumbai: Seventeen days before the IPL 2026 kicks off, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released the fixtures – that, too, for the first 16 days of the marathon two-month tournament.
Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will open the T20 league at their home ground, the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on March 28.
It promises to be an exciting contest as it will pit Virat Kohli against Pat Cummins, both of whom will be returning to competitive cricket after a gap. Neither featured in the recent T20 World Cup as Kohli has retired from T20 Internationals and Test cricket, while Cummins was ruled out due to a back injury.
The two greats apart, there will be several other players capable of lighting up the opening night of this year’s IPL – Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma of Sunrisers, Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell of RCB.
Day 2 will feature a heavyweight clash between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, at the Wankhede Stadium.
Five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will open their campaign on March 30 against Rajasthan Royals at Guwahati’s Barsapara Stadium. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, just 44 years young, will be back donning the yellow shirt. He will miss one regular teammate of several years in Ravindra Jadeja, and will welcome Team India’s T20 World Cup-winning hero Sanju Samson to the yellow brigade for the first time.
The organisers had to stagger the schedule release due to upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam. The IPL Governing Council is likely to announce the schedule for the reast of the tournament once the Election Commission of India announces the poll dates.
Check out the fixtures from March 28 to April 12:
