All you need to know ahead of the 2026 Indian Premier League, with all 84 matches live on Your Site.
The 19th edition of the IPL runs from March 28 to May 31.
Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening game on Saturday at M Chinnaswamy Stadium (2pm start UK and Ireland time).
RCB finally landed their first IPL title last season when they defeated Punjab Kings in the final to deny their opponents a maiden trophy.
Teams are split into two virtual groups of five, although there is only one table. This year, sides will play the other four franchises in their group once plus the five sides in the other group twice for a total of 14 group games.
Franchises earn two points for a win, none for a loss and one in the event of no result, with the top four teams in the table after the league stage advancing to the play-offs.
The teams that finish first and second advance to the first qualifier, with the winner of that match progressing directly to the final and the losers dropping into the second qualifier.
The eliminator between the sides who finish third and fourth in the table will then take place, with the winners reaching the second qualifier and the losers knocked out.
The winners of the eliminator and the losers of the first qualifier will then meet in the second qualifier. Whoever wins that takes the second spot in the final.
Thirteen England players were retained, traded or signed in the auction with Titans and RCB having three each.
However, while Sam Curran - who had been traded from Chennai to Rajasthan - will sit out the tournament with an unspecified injury.
Gloucestershire seamer David Payne has since been signed by Sunrisers as an injury replacement for Australian Jack Edwards so, as things stand, there are 12 English players across the 10 franchises.
The retained Jos Buttler is alongside batter Tom Banton and left-arm quick Luke Wood, both of whom joined him in England's T20 World Cup squad in India and Sri Lanka earlier this year.
RCB kept Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell, who also played at the T20 World Cup as England reached the semi-finals, with the 2025 champions purchasing last year's Hundred MVP Jordan Cox, too.
Liam Livingstone, , is at Sunrisers alongside Brydon Carse and Payne.
Jofra Archer will play for Rajasthan with Jamie Overton (Chennai) and Will Jacks (Mumbai) completing the English contingent.
Gujarat will hope that happens - and so, too, England after the country's greatest-ever white-ball batter toiled during the T20 World Cup, mustering only 87 runs in eight innings at an average of 10.87. His highest score was 26. Grisly, grisly numbers.
Questions have been asked about Buttler's England future and a poor IPL would add to those but this is a tournament he has excelled in, amassing over 4,000 runs in his IPL career, including seven tons.
Buttler struck 538 runs for Gujarat last term, with his five fifties including a 54-ball 97 not out against Delhi.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was signed by Rajasthan in the auction as a 13-year-old and then lit up the tournament as a 14-year-old, slamming the first ball he faced in the competition for six and then, in another game, smashing a remarkable 35-ball hundred.
The left-hander's ton against Gujarat - the second-quickest in IPL history, behind only Chris Gayle's 30-ball century 12 years earlier - made him the youngest centurion in men's T20 cricket and he has continued to hoover up records since that startling knock.
They include the highest score in a men's Under-19 World Cup final, with Sooryavanshi clubbing 175 from only 80 balls as India beat England earlier this year.
Kohli, as ever, will be a star attraction, while the members of India's recent T20 World Cup-winning squad will also be out to impress, including Player of the Tournament Sanju Samson - who has left Rajasthan to join Chennai - and seam-bowling maestro Jasprit Bumrah, innovative batter Suryakumar Yadav and hard-hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya, each of whom play for Mumbai.
New Zealand's Finn Allen - who clubbed a T20 World Cup-record 33-ball hundred in the Black Caps' semi-final demolition of South Africa - is on Kolkata's books. So, too, is Australia all-rounder Cameron Green after becoming the most expensive overseas player in IPL history when KKR forked out £2.09m for him in the auction.
England's Ashes nemesis Mitchell Starc plays for Delhi, while Australia Test captain Pat Cummins is expected to make his return from injury at some stage in the IPL. If he does, that will add significantly to Sunrisers' bowling arsenal.
Nope. The Bangladesh left-arm seamer was withdrawn from the Kolkata squad by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) due to political tensions between the two nations.
That triggered a chain of events that saw Bangladesh withdrawn from the T20 World Cup by the ICC after refusing to play their matches in India due to security concerns, and Pakistan then initially boycotting their game versus India in the tournament in solidarity with Bangladesh before eventually opting to play that fixture.
Mustafizur has since signed for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), a competition which runs concurrently with the IPL. His place in the Kolkata squad has been taken by Zimbabwe's Blessing Muzarabani, who pulled out of a PSL deal with Islamabad United in order to join KKR.
Muzarabani is not the only player to ditch a PSL contract for the IPL with Sri Lanka's Dasun Shanaka also leaving Qalandars to replace injured England man Sam Curran at Rajasthan.
All 3pm UK and Ireland unless stated;
Saturday March 28: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (2pm)
Sunday March 29: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Monday March 30: Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings
Tuesday March 31: Punjab Kings vs Gujarat Titans
Wednesday April 1: Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals
Thursday April 2: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Friday April 3: Chennai Super Kings vs Punjab Kings
Saturday April 4: Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians (11am)
Saturday April 4: Gujarat Titans vs Rajasthan Royals
Sunday April 5: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Lucknow Super Giants (11am)
Sunday April 5: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings
Monday April 6: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings
Tuesday April 7: Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians
Wednesday April 8: Delhi Capitals vs Gujarat Titans
Thursday April 9: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants
Friday April 10: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Saturday April 11: Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (11am)
Saturday April 11: Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals
Sunday April 12: Lucknow Super Giants vs Gujarat Titans (11am)
Sunday April 12: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Monday April 13: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals
Tuesday April 14: Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Wednesday April 15: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Lucknow Super Giants
Thursday April 16: Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings
Friday April 17: Gujarat Titans vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Saturday April 18: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Delhi Capitals (11am)
Saturday April 18: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings
Sunday April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals (11am)
Sunday April 19: Punjab Kings vs Lucknow Super Giants
Monday April 20: Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians
Tuesday April 21: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Capitals
Wednesday April 22: Lucknow Super Giants vs Rajasthan Royals
Thursday April 23: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings
Friday April 24: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans
Saturday April 25: Delhi Capitals vs Punjab Kings (11am)
Saturday April 25: Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunday April 26: Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings (11am)
Sunday April 26: Lucknow Super Giants vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Monday April 27: Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Tuesday April 28: Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals
Wednesday April 29: Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Thursday April 30: Gujarat Titans vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Friday May 1: Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals
Saturday May 2: Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians
Sunday May 3: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders (11am)
Sunday May 3: Gujarat Titans vs Punjab Kings
Monday May 4: Mumbai Indians vs Lucknow Super Giants
Tuesday May 5: Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings
Wednesday May 6: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings
Thursday May 7: Lucknow Super Giants vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Friday May 8: Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Saturday May 9: Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans
Sunday May 10: Chennai Super Kings vs Lucknow Super Giants (11am)
Sunday May 10: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Mumbai Indians
Monday May 11: Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals
Tuesday May 12: Gujarat Titans vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Wednesday May 13: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Thursday May 14: Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians
Friday May 15: Lucknow Super Giants vs Chennai Super Kings
Saturday May 16: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Gujarat Titans
Sunday May 17: Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (11am)
Sunday May 17: Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals
Monday May 18: Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Tuesday May 19: Rajasthan Royals vs Lucknow Super Giants
Wednesday May 20: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians
Thursday May 21: Chennai Super Kings vs Gujarat Titans
Friday May 22: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Saturday May 23: Lucknow Super Giants vs Punjab Kings
Sunday May 24: Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals (11am)
Sunday May 24: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals
