IPL 2026 will start from March 28, not from March 26, opening will be held in Bengaluru, know the new update of BCCI

IPL 2026: The 19th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is going to start in just a few days. According to reports, BCCI has decided to run the IPL 2026 tournament from March 28 to May 31. The inaugural match will be held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where the majority of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) home matches will be played. The final will also be held on this ground.

The schedule will be released in two phases

BCCI has not released the complete schedule together. Due to assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the program is expected to be in two parts. In the first phase, the list of matches for the initial 15-20 days will be released, which will run till approximately mid-April. The schedule of remaining matches, playoffs and finals will be announced later.

This method has been adopted earlier also. Even at the time of Lok Sabha elections in 2024, BCCI had released the schedule in a phased manner, so that there is no conflict with the voting dates and the security arrangements remain smooth. The remaining fixtures will be decided only after the Election Commission comes out with the voting schedule.

IPL 2026 schedule

The schedule of IPL 2026 matches was scheduled to be released today on March 8, however now the date has been changed. Now the first schedule will be released on Monday, March 9 at 6:00 pm.

🚨 Announcement 🚨

Get ready! #TATAIPL2026 is all set to start from the 28th of MARCH! pic.twitter.com/RF4Ixvo1J5

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 8, 2026

grounds of election affected states

West Bengal’s Eden Gardens (home of Kolkata Knight Riders), Tamil Nadu’s MA Chidambaram Stadium (home of Chennai Super Kings) and Assam’s Barsapara Stadium (Rajasthan Royals’ second home ground) could be affected by the elections. The dates of the matches at these places will be decided on the basis of election dates.

Home grounds of RCB and RR

RCB has confirmed that five of the seven home matches will be played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. The remaining two matches will be held at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur. This decision has been taken due to previously agreed commitments.

The opening match, a playoff and the final will be held at Chinnaswamy only. Rajasthan Royals can also use Guwahati as their second home ground, but this is possible to change due to Assam elections.