IPL 2026 is scheduled to start from March 28, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not yet announced the schedule of the tournament. However, now BCCI Secretary Devjit Saikia has given big information regarding the schedule of the upcoming season of IPL. He informed that the schedule for the first 20 days of the tournament will be released by March 12.
The program will be released in two parts
Secretary Saikia said that the 19th edition of IPL will be organized from March 28 to May 31. Earlier its window was fixed from March 26 to May 30, but now the dates have been slightly changed. He said, ‘We are planning to announce the schedule of IPL 2026 by March 12. At present, the schedule of matches for the first 20 days will be released. Actually, BCCI will release the schedule of the remaining matches later so that the matches do not clash with the assembly elections to be held in West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu.
Why is there a delay in announcing the program?
Assembly elections are to be held in five states due to which the announcement of IPL schedule was delayed. In fact, the dates of assembly elections in the three states where IPL matches are to be played have not been announced yet. These include Amas, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Kolkata (in West Bengal) and Chennai (in Tamil Nadu) are the home grounds of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) respectively, while Guwahati is the second venue of Rajasthan Royals.
RCB will defend the title
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the IPL title for the first time by defeating Punjab Kings in 2025. This time the RCB team will go to defend the title. It is a matter of relief for RCB fans that the team will play its five matches in the group stage at the home stadium Chinnaswamy only. For this, approval has been received from Karnataka State Cricket Association.
