The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will announce the schedule for the first 20 days of the IPL 2026 season by March 13, secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed on Tuesday. The opening set of matches will cover the opening leg of the tournament, with the remaining schedule to be announced at a later date.
As India continue to celebrate their dominant T20 World Cup triumph at home after defeating New Zealand in the final on March 8, attention is already shifting back to the world’s biggest franchise cricket tournament. The IPL is set to start on March 28, a date which was earlier confirmed by TV channel Star Sports.
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However, the BCCI has decided to release the schedules in phases due to the upcoming assembly elections in several states, which could affect the logistics and security arrangements during the tournament.
Speaking to ANI, Saikia said that the council is currently working on the election calendar before locking in the early part of the schedule.
“We will announce the first 20-day IPL schedule in 2 or 3 days after considering the election dates in several states and will announce the rest of the tournament schedule later,” Saikia said.
WHY BCCI NOT RELEASING COMPLETE IPL 2026 SCHEDULE?
Elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are expected to take place during the IPL window, forcing the board to adopt a flexible approach in finalizing venues and match dates.
This update from Saikia comes just days after it was confirmed that Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s home ground, the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, will host the IPL 2026 final. In addition, the venue will host four group stage matches of the defending champions as well as two play-off matches during the tournament.
The decision is significant considering that the stadium has remained closed for major cricket events over the past year. Cricket in Chinnaswamy has been suspended since June last year after a stampede during RCB’s IPL 2025 title celebrations resulted in 11 deaths and several injuries.
Due to this suspension, the ground did not host scheduled matches during the ICC Women’s World Cup and was also omitted from the list of venues for the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
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Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
10 March 2026 15:33 IST
