The Indian Premier League is back for its 19th season in 2026, and cricket fans everywhere are buzzing. Ten teams are set to clash once again, each chasing that shiny trophy in what’s sure to be another wild T20 ride.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru come in as defending champs, still riding high after their first-ever title in 2025. They edged out Punjab Kings by just 6 runs in a thrilling final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. For Virat Kohli, finally lifting the IPL trophy after 18 years must’ve felt surreal.
Here’s a look at everything you need to know about IPL 2026: Dates, Team lineups, streaming details, and more.
IPL 2026 Format & Key Details
The 2026 season brings an expanded format with more matches than previous years. The BCCI has increased the total match count to give fans more cricketing action.
| Tournament Dates | March 26 to May 31, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Total Teams | 10 |
| Total Matches | 84 ( 80 League + 4 Playoffs: Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2, and the Final ) |
| Defending Champions | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
| Format | Double Round- Robin Format: each team plays 14 matches (7 home, 7 away). |
Each team plays 14 league matches in the group stage. The top four teams qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs include Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2, and the Final.
IPL 2026 Venues
IPL 2026 matches will take place across multiple cities in India. The home grounds of all ten franchises will host matches. Here are the expected venues:
- Eden Gardens, Kolkata
- Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
- M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
- Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
- M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
- Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
- Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
- Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
- Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
- Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Chandigarh
- HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala
IPL 2026 Schedule
The BCCI hasn’t shared the full match schedule yet. All we know is the tournament kicks off on March 26, 2026, and wraps up with the final on May 31, 2026. Usually, they announce the fixtures sometime in February, just before things get going. As for the games themselves, afternoon matches start at 3:30 PM IST, while evening ones begin at 7:30 PM IST.
IPL 2026 Team Squads
The IPL 2026 mini auction kicked off in Abu Dhabi on December 16, 2025. Cameron Green stole the show, smashing records as the priciest overseas player ever with a jaw-dropping Rs 25.20 crore deal. Chennai Super Kings didn’t hold back either, snapping up uncapped talents Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma for Rs 14.20 crore each. Here’s a look at how all ten teams shaped their squads:
1. Chennai Super Kings
Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad
Squad: MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Urvil Patel, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Khaleel Ahmed, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Mukesh Choudhary, Jamie Overton, Gurjapneet Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Prashant Veer, Kartik Sharma, Rahul Chahar, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Matthew Short, Sarfaraz Khan, Zak Foulkes, Aman Khan
2. Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Captain: Rajat Patidar
Squad: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell, Venkatesh Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Romario Shepherd, Satwik Deswal, Kanish Chouhan, Vihaan Malhotra, Vicky Ostwal, Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam, Mangesh Yadav, Yash Dayal, Jacob Duffy, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh
3. Mumbai Indians
Captain: Hardik Pandya
Squad: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Danish Malewar, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock, Shardul Thakur, Sherfane Rutherford, Corbin Bosch, Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raj Bawa, Will Jacks, Atharva Ankolekar, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar, Raghu Sharma, Ashwani Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Izhar
4. Kolkata Knight Riders
Captain: Ajinkya Rahane
Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Cameron Green, Matheesha Pathirana, Mustafizur Rahman, Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Tejasvi Dahiya, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Akash Deep, Anukul Roy, Prashant Solanki, Kartik Tyagi, Sarthak Ranjan, Daksh Kamra
5. Delhi Capitals
Captain: Axar Patel
Squad: KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Nitish Rana, Pathum Nissanka, David Miller, Ben Duckett, Lungi Ngidi, Kyle Jamieson, Prithvi Shaw, Sahil Parikh, Auqib Nabi Dar, Madhav Tiwari, T Vijay, Ajay Mandal
6. Gujarat Titans
Captain: Shubman Gill
Squad: Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Jos Buttler, Nishant Sindhu, Jayant Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Glenn Phillips, Gurnoor Brar, Sai Kishore, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Arshad Khan, Jason Holder, Tom Banton, Ashok Sharma, Luke Wood, Prithvi Raj Yarra
7. Punjab Kings
Captain: Shreyas Iyer
Squad: Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Nehal Wadhera, Priyansh Arya, Harnoor Singh, Pyla Avinash, Vishnu Vinod, Azmatullah Omarzai, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Mitchell Owen, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Praveen Dubey, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Vishal Nishad, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur
8. Rajasthan Royals
Captain: Riyan Parag
Squad: Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Shubham Dubey, Aman Rao, Ravi Singh, Donovan Ferreira, Yudhvir Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur, Kwena Maphaka, Nandre Burger, Sushant Mishra, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen, Brijesh Sharma
9. Sunrisers Hyderabad
Captain: Pat Cummins
Squad: Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Harshal Patel, Ishan Kishan, Aniket Verma, R Smaran, Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse, Harsh Dubey, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Shivang Kumar, Krains Fuletra, Salil Arora, Amit Kumar, Onkar Tarmale, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge, Jack Edwards
10. Lucknow Super Giants
Captain: Rishabh Pant
Squad: Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Avesh Khan, Abdul Samad, Mohammed Shami, Arshin Kulkarni, Shahbaz Ahmed, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Digvesh Rathi, M Siddharth, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Arjun Tendulkar, Naman Tiwari, Josh Inglis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Anrich Nortje, Mukul Choudhary, Akshat Raghuwanshi
IPL 2026 Live Streaming & Broadcast Details
IPL 2026 offers multiple viewing options for fans in India and around the world. The matches will air on television and stream online through official platforms.
TV Broadcast in India
Star Sports Network holds the television broadcasting rights for IPL 2026.
Fans can watch matches on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD, Star Sports Tamil, Star Sports Telugu, and Star Sports Kannada. All major DTH providers, such as Tata Play, Airtel Digital TV, and Dish TV, include these channels in their sports packages.
Online Streaming in India
JioHotstar serves as the official digital streaming platform for IPL 2026.
The platform emerged from the merger of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar in 2025. Fans need a paid subscription to watch matches live. JioHotstar offers HD and 4K streaming with multi-language commentary in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, and other regional languages.
International Broadcast
- United Kingdom: Sky Sports Cricket
- USA & Canada: Willow TV
- Australia: Kayo Sports
- Middle East: OSN Sports
- South Africa: SuperSport
- New Zealand, Japan, China: YuppTV
IPL Winners: 2008 to 2025
The current IPL Champion is RCB. They defeated Punjab Kings in 2025 IPL Final at Narendra Modi Stadium and grabbed their first-ever IPL Title after a long wait.
Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings lead the all-time winners list with five titles each. Here is the complete list of IPL champions since 2008:
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Rajasthan Royals | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2009 | Deccan Chargers | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| 2010 | Chennai Super Kings | Mumbai Indians |
| 2011 | Chennai Super Kings | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| 2012 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2013 | Mumbai Indians | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2014 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Kings XI Punjab |
| 2015 | Mumbai Indians | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2016 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| 2017 | Mumbai Indians | Rising Pune Supergiant |
| 2018 | Chennai Super Kings | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| 2019 | Mumbai Indians | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2020 | Mumbai Indians | Delhi Capitals |
| 2021 | Chennai Super Kings | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| 2022 | Gujarat Titans | Rajasthan Royals |
| 2023 | Chennai Super Kings | Gujarat Titans |
| 2024 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| 2025 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Punjab Kings |
Frequently Asked Questions
IPL 2026 starts on March 26, 2026. The final takes place on May 31, 2026.
Ten teams compete in IPL 2026: Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Titans, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won IPL 2025 by defeating Punjab Kings in the final. It was their first-ever IPL title after 18 years.
In India, IPL 2026 airs live on Star Sports Network channels. For online streaming, fans can watch on JioHotstar with a paid subscription.
IPL 2026 features 84 matches in total. This includes league stage matches and four playoff games.
Cameron Green became the most expensive overseas player in IPL history. Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for Rs 25.20 crore at the IPL 2026 mini auction in Abu Dhabi.
