IPL 2026 FAQs: The excitement of IPL 2026 is going to start soon. Defending champion Royal Challengers Bangalore will play the opening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 28 March 2026 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. At the same time, the final of the tournament will be played on 31 May. During this period, fans will get to see a total of 74 matches between 10 teams. However, the schedule for the playoff matches has not been announced yet.
New venue and home ground
This season some teams will use two home grounds. RCB will play its two home matches at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in Raipur. Whereas, Punjab Kings will play four matches in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala. Rajasthan Royals will also play four matches in Jaipur and three in Guwahati.
Match timing and format
These 10 teams have been divided into two groups of 5 each. Group A consists of Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings. Whereas, Group B has Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants. During this period, teams will play once against the teams of their group and twice against the teams of the other group. Talking about match timing, evening matches will start at 7:30 pm, while afternoon matches will be played from 3:30 pm.
Teams changed after big trades and auctions
This time many big trades took place before the auction. Sanju Samson was traded from Rajasthan Royals to Chennai Super Kings, in return Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran came, however, Curran is out of the entire tournament due to a groin injury. In the rest of the trades, Mohammed Shami went from Sunrisers to Lucknow Super Giants, Nitish Rana went from Rajasthan to Delhi Capitals, Mayank Markande went from Kolkata to Mumbai Indians and Arjun Tendulkar went from Mumbai to Lucknow.
Special features of auction
The most expensive foreign player in the auction was Cameron Green, who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 25.2 crore. KKR also signed Mathisha Pathirana for 18 crores. Venkatesh Iyer, who went to KKR last season for Rs 23.75 crore, this time he got it from RCB for just Rs 7 crore. At the same time, there was huge bidding on uncapped Indian players. 20 year old spin all-rounder Prashant Veer and 19 year old wicketkeeper batsman Karthik Sharma were bought by CSK for Rs 14.2 crore. Jammu and Kashmir’s fast bowler Aaqib Nabi also got Delhi for 8.4 crores.
Injuries increased the tension of the teams
Many big players are not available due to injury or other reasons. KKR’s Harshit Rana and Akash Deep are out of the entire tournament. Pathirana will be available from mid-April. SRH captain Pat Cummins will not play in the first half, Ishan Kishan will captain in his place. At the same time, RCB’s Josh Hazlewood will not be able to play in the initial matches. Apart from these, Lockie Ferguson of Punjab Kings will also not play in the first few matches. Delhi’s Ben Duckett is also out due to giving priority to his England career and he may be banned for two years.
Big names who will be missing this season
Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis and Moeen Ali did not enter the auction and are playing in the Pakistan Super League. Andre Russell has also retired from IPL and has now joined as the power coach of KKR. In such a situation, these star players will not be seen in the field this time.
Change in support staff also
Many teams have also changed the coaching staff. Kumar Sangakkara has become the head coach and cricket director of Rajasthan Royals. Abhishek Nair has become the head coach of KKR, while Shane Watson has become the assistant coach and Tim Southee has become the bowling coach.
This could be MS Dhoni’s last season
Even after Sanju Samson’s arrival in Chennai Super Kings, the biggest question is about the future of MS Dhoni. Will this be his last season? This old question is in discussion again, but only Dhoni can answer it.
BCCI made these new rules
- No IPL team will be allowed to practice or train on the day of its match.
- No team is allowed to play more than 2 practice matches.
- No team will share practice nets. Every team will get new nets for practice.
- Training or practice will not be allowed 4 days in advance on the pitch on which any home team will play its first match.
- Family and friends will not be allowed to travel with the players.
- BCCI has banned players and support staff from sitting near the LEB board installed on the field during IPL 2026.