The
Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional
Twenty20 (T20)
cricket league, organized by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It has held annually since the
first edition in 2008.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru are the defending champions, having won their maiden title in the
previous season after defeating
Punjab Kings in the
final.
Format The group format has been reversed to be similar to that of
2023 IPL. Each team will play once against the teams in their group and twice against the teams in the other group. After the
group stage, the top four teams, based on aggregate points, would advance to the
playoffs. In this stage, the top two teams compete with each other (in a match titled "
Qualifier 1"), as do the remaining two teams (in a match titled "
Eliminator"). While the winner of Qualifier 1 would directly qualify for the final match, the losing team had another chance to qualify for the final match by competing against the winning team of the Eliminator (in a match titled "
Qualifier 2"). The winner of this subsequent Qualifier 2 match advanced to the final match. Teams were seeded into groups based on the number of titles they have won. The
IPL Governing Council had initially announced that the IPL would expand to 84 matches for 2026 and 2027, with it expected to expand to 94 matches from 2028 onwards with the return of the complete
double round-robin format that was used until 2021. However, the number of matches was kept as 74 for one more edition as it was in the previous four seasons.
Schedule According to
ESPNcricinfo, the dates of the tournament window for the three seasons between 2025 and 2027 were sent to franchises ahead of the
2025 auction. In November 2024, the tentative dates for the three seasons were announced, with the 2026 edition set to take place from 15 March to 31 May. In December 2025, it was announced that the 2025 season would commence on 26 March to allow for a three-week gap after the
2026 Men's T20 World Cup final scheduled to take place on 8 March. In February 2026, it was announced that the 2026 season would commence 2 days later on 28 March. This led to a clash with the
2026 Pakistan Super League for the second consecutive year taking place from 26 March to 3 May 2026, which was again moved from its typical February–March window for the same reason. In March 2026, it was announced that the fixtures for that season would be announced in two parts due to the
State Assembly Elections in
Assam,
Tamil Nadu and
West Bengal; for which the dates were not announced till 15 March. The first part of the schedule comprising the first twenty matches was announced on 11 March, with the inaugural match being hosted at
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium between the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru and
Sunrisers Hyderabad on 28 March. The complete fixtures for the league stage were announced on 26 March.
Exclusion of Mustafizur Rahman Bangladeshi fast bowler
Mustafizur Rahman was bought by
Kolkata Knight Riders for in the auction. Following
anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh during 2025 and the
lynching of Dipu Chandra Das in
December 2025, there were calls for the exclusion of Bangladeshi players from the IPL. In January 2026, the BCCI requested that the franchise release Rahman from the squad and permitted them to select a replacement player. This move was criticized by former Indian cricketer
Madan Lal,
Congress politician
Shashi Tharoor, and former Bangladeshi captains
Khaled Mahmud and
Mohammad Ashraful while former Indian cricketer
Aakash Chopra and
BJP politician
Sangeet Singh Som defended the BCCI's move. This led the BCCI to put the
Indian tour of Bangladesh on hold due to tensions. Furthermore, the
Bangladesh Cricket Board requested the
International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift their matches at the
2026 Men's T20 World Cup which was to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, out of India, similar to that of Pakistan's. But the request was rejected by the ICC, and Bangladesh ultimately withdrew from the T20 World Cup. The Bangladeshi government also banned the broadcast of IPL in their country. Following the
2026 Bangladeshi general election, the newly elected government clarified that the broadcast of the IPL is not banned anymore in their country.
Marketing The
Tata Group renewed their contract as the title sponsors of the IPL for a tenure of 5 years (2024–2028) for .
Broadcasting JioStar's
Star Sports and
JioHotstar, currently holds the satellite and digital broadcasting rights for the remainder of the 2023–2027 cycle respectively. == Teams ==