IPL 2026 Fixtures – Complete Schedule and Preview

The Indian Premier League returns with a new season, and your favorite players are back after a splendid 2025 season. In the previous season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru got their long-overdue IPL trophy. It was a cherishing moment for both the fans and the team. Virat Kohli expressed his gratification at winning after 18 years of contribution. Moreover, Captain Rajat Patidar said that the win is due to patience and resilience rather than luck. Coming to the current season, the BCCI has given the initial schedule for the Twenty-Over fixtures. Besides, the IPL auction was held on December 16, 2025, with teams selecting players amid heavy demand. Let’s look at the upcoming fixtures, players, and teams, breaking them down.

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IPL 2025 Previous Season Highlights

The IPL 2025 Season was simply astounding as the league’s underdog teams rose to the top. Legends like the Mumbai Indians’ performance were not adequate, and they delivered a substandard performance. Likewise, the Chennai Super Kings also lost their previous season very badly. Ultimately, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the finals, beating the Punjab Kings. It was one of the defining moments in IPL history.

IPL 2026 -Teams and Players

Team	Players
Chennai Super Kings	Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson, Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Kartik Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Urvil Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, Matthew William Short, Aman Khan, Zak Foulkes, Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Gurjapneet Singh, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar
Delhi Capitals	KL Rahul, Karun Nair, David Miller, Ben Duckett, Pathum Nissanka, Sahil Parakh, Prithvi Shaw, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Auqib Dar, Nitish Rana, Mitchell Starc, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Lungisani Ngidi, Kyle Jamieson, Kuldeep Yadav
Gujarat Titans	Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Tom Banton, Glenn Phillips, Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav, Jason Holder, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Sharma, Prithvi Raj Yarra, Luke Wood, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan
Kolkata Knight Riders	Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Moeen Ali, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Rovman Powell, Anukul Roy, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra, Rachin Ravindra, Ramandeep Singh, Blessing Muzarabani, Vaibhav Arora, Matheesha Pathirana, Kartik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Umran Malik, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy
Lucknow Super Giants	Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Mukul Choudhary, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Josh Inglis, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahamad, Arshin Kulkarni, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ayush Badoni, Mohammad Shami, Avesh Khan, M. Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Arjun Tendulkar, Anrich Nortje, Naman Tiwari, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan
Mumbai Indians	Rohit Sharma, Surya Kumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Sherfane Rutherford, Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock, Danish Malewar, N. Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Raj Angad Bawa, Atharva Ankolekar, Mayank Rawat, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Mayank Markande, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Mohammad Izhar, Allah Ghazanfar, Jasprit Bumrah
Punjab Kings	Shreyas Iyer, Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod, Harnoor Pannu, Pyla Avinash, Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Harpreet Brar, Marco Jansen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Priyansh Arya, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Mitch Owen, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Dasun Shanaka, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Xavier Bartlett, Pravin Dubey, Vishal Nishad, Lockie Ferguson
Rajasthan Royals	Riyan Parag, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Donovan Ferreira, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Aman Rao Perala, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeep Sharma, Nandre Burger
Royal Challengers Bengaluru	Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Jordan Cox, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Venkatesh Iyer, Satvik Deswal, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Yash Dayal
Sunrisers Hyderabad	Ishan Kishan, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Salil Arora, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Harsh Dubey, Brydon Carse, Shivang Kumar, Krains Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Jack Edwards, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Onkar Tarmale, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Shivam Mavi

IPL 2026 Schedule

RCB vs SRH

Date: March 28, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

MI vs KKR

Date: March 29, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

RR vs CSK

Date: March 30, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings

Venue: ACA Stadium, Guwahati

PBKS vs GT

Date: March 31, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Punjab Kings vs Gujarat Titans

Venue: PCA International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh

LSG vs DC

Date: April 1, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals

Venue: Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow

KKR vs SRH

Date: April 2, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

CSK vs PBKS

Date: April 3, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Chennai Super Kings vs Punjab Kings

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

DC vs MI

Date: April 4, 2026

Time: 10:00 AM IST

Teams: Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians

Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

GT vs RR

Date: April 4, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Gujarat Titans vs Rajasthan Royals

Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

SRH vs LSG

Date: April 5, 2026

Time: 10:00 AM IST

Teams: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Lucknow Super Giants

Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad

RCB vs CSK

Date: April 5, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings

Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

KKR vs PBKS

Date: April 6, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings

Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

RR vs MI

Date: April 7, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians

Venue: ACA Stadium, Guwahati

DC vs GT

Date: April 8, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Delhi Capitals vs Gujarat Titans

Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

KKR vs LSG

Date: April 9, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants

Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

RR vs RCB

Date: April 10, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Venue: ACA Stadium, Guwahati

PBKS vs SRH

Date: April 11, 2026

Time: 10:00 AM IST

Teams: Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Venue: PCA International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh

CSK vs DC

Date: April 11, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

LSG vs GT

Date: April 12, 2026

Time: 10:00 AM IST

Teams: Lucknow Super Giants vs Gujarat Titans

Venue: Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow

MI vs RCB

Date: April 12, 2026

Time: 2:00 PM IST

Teams: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

How to Watch IPL 2026?

You can watch all the Indian Premier League matches on JioHotstar live stream. You can also watch the IPL matches on the Star Sports network throughout India. Fans in the United States can stream the IPL through Willow TV.

IPL 2026 Auction: Big Moves

The Indian Premier League Mini Auction was held in 2025 December. The highest bid was for Cameron Green, who was sold for ₹25,20,00,000. Kolkata Knight Riders brought them after hiking the price from the base amount of  ₹2,00,00,000. KKR also bought Matheesha Pathirana for ₹18,00,00,000. Pathirana was a death-over specialist. His right-arm pace bowl delivers accurate yorkers.

Chennai Super Kings brought Karthik Sharma and Prashant Veer for ₹14,20,00,000 each. They both are high-impact uncapped players. Veer is a batting all-rounder. Meanwhile, Shamra is an intense wicketkeeper and batter. In addition, Liam Livingstone (₹13,00,00,000), Mustafizur Rahman (₹9,20,00,000), Josh Inglis (₹8,60,00,000), and Auqib Dar (₹8,40,00,000) were the successive top bids. Lastly, Ravi Bishnoi was sold for ₹7,20,00,000, and Jason Holder was sold for ₹7,00,00,000, respectively.

IPL 2026 Opening Day Fixtures and March Matches Preview

RCB vs SRH Predictions

RCB Players

Role	Players
Openers	Phil Salt, Virat Kohli
Top / Middle Order	Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (C), Venkatesh Iyer
Wicketkeeper / Finisher	Jitesh Sharma
Finishers / All-rounders	Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya
Bowlers	Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood / Jacob Duffy
Impact Player Options	Suyash Sharma, Devdutt Padikkal

SRH Players

Role	Players
Openers	Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma
Top / Middle Order	Ishan Kishan (C/WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy
Middle Order Engine	Heinrich Klaasen
Finishers / All-rounders	Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins
Bowlers	Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat
Impact Player Options	Zeeshan Ansari, Shivam Mavi, Smaran Ravichandran

Preview

The IPL will kick off with RCB and SRH facing each other at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28, 2026. The Chinnaswamy Stadium is a betting-friendly pitch, allowing a substantial number of runs from both sides. Regarding batting, RCB has strong openers like Virat Kohli, who is expected to turn more aggressive this season.  They also have strong middle-order batters like Rajat Patidar and finishers like  Jitesh Sharma. SRH comes with an explosive batting lineup. However, they face issues in bowling. Top orders like Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma could withstand RCB’s pace. Overall, the match is expected to have a high-scoring affair from both sides. However, RCB’s bowling is superior to SRH’s, making them the winners in this IPL clash.

The Pick: Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

MI vs KKR Predictions

MI Players

Role	Key Players
Openers	Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock (WK), Ryan Rickelton (WK)
Top/Middle Order	Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Robin Minz, Danish Malewar
Middle Order	Hardik Pandya (C), Will Jacks, Naman Dhir
All-rounders	Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Sherfane Rutherford, Raj Bawa
Bowlers	Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Mayank Markande, A. Ghazanfar

KKR Players

Category	Players
Openers	Finn Allen (WK), Tim Seifert (WK), Ajinkya Rahane (C), Sarthak Ranjan
Top/Middle Order	Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Rahul Tripathi
Middle Order	Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Tejasvi Singh (WK)
All-rounders	Cameron Green, Sunil Narine, Rachin Ravindra, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Daksh Kamra
Bowlers	Varun Chakaravarthy, Matheesha Pathirana, Umran Malik, Kartik Tyagi, Prashant Solanki

Preview

The Mumbai Indians are one of the strong-performing teams in IPL so far. Currently, they have a strong squad that has veteran leadership and dominance. Hardik Pandya comes as a captain once again under Rohit Sharma’s batting dominance. The team has India’s elite capped players like Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah. The MI squad also brings their elite death bowling. Deadly Yorkers from pacey bowlers like Bumrah are what make them strong in bowling. Similarly, the Kolkata Knight Riders make key additions, including Cameron Green, who was bought at a record price. Their batting order has strong openers like Rachin Ravindra. However, KKR has poor bowling efficiency as they lack the depth that MI has. So, the Mumbai Indians have the edge in this IPL matchup.

The Pick: Mumbai Indians.

What to Expect This Season?

The IPL 2026 Season will be just as legendary as the previous season. The first win in 18 years has given a new confidence to RCB, making them an active contender. On the other hand, the Punjab Kings are determined to win this time, having no titles so far. Similarly, legends like CSK, MI, and KKR are on their way to compete in the IPL, making it more intriguing. Overall, the title race will be furious with each match.