IPL 2026 will be held between March 26 and May 31, occupying the same window it has in recent years in the cricket calendar. While the BCCI hasn’t announced the full fixtures yet, the 19th edition of the IPL will kick off roughly three weeks after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup – scheduled between February 7 and March 8 in India and Sri Lanka – and run till the end of May.
It also means that for the second year running, the IPL will clash with the PSL, which is scheduled to be held between March 26 and May 3.
Preparations for the tournament, though, are already underway, as teams prepare for the IPL auction on December 16 in Abu Dhabi, where 369 players have been shortlisted to go under the hammer. A total of 77 slots are available, including 31 for overseas players. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have the most vacancies, 13, followed by Sunrisers Hyderabad with ten. After trades and retentions, KKR have the biggest purse available: INR 64.30 crore (USD 7.1 million approx). Chennai Super Kings are the next with INR 43.40 crore (USD 4.8 million approx.).
IPL 2025 was also originally slated to be played in a similar window – March 22 to May 25 – but cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan meant the tournament was briefly suspended on May 9, before resuming on May 15 and ending on June 3.
The final was won by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who ended their trophy drought with a six-run win over Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad. RCB’s title celebrations in Bengaluru, however, took a sour note following the death of 11 people due to stampede-like conditions outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium. A probe panel later deemed the stadium “unsafe” to host large-scale events.
