IPL 2026 — Everything you need to know

The 19th edition of the Indian Premier League is here. 84 matches, 10 franchises, two months of cricket — and this year, more data, more AI, and more ways to compete than ever before.

The teams

All ten franchises return for IPL 2026. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifted the trophy in dramatic fashion last May and will be gunning for back-to-back titles for the first time in the tournament's history. Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders — the three most successful franchises — all go into the season with revamped squads after an aggressive auction.

The schedule

The season runs from March 28 to May 31, 2026. The league stage features 70 matches across 13 venues, with the knockout rounds (Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and the Final) taking place in the last week of May. Home venues return to pre-pandemic allocations — expect Eden Gardens, Wankhede Stadium and M. Chinnaswamy Stadium at full capacity.

Key rule changes

The BCCI has introduced two notable rule tweaks for 2026. First, the Impact Player substitution rule introduced in 2023 has been modified — each team now gets one Impact Player per innings rather than per match, incentivising teams to keep specialist bowlers in the XI. Second, a new Strategic Time-Out rule allows batting teams to call a 90-second review during the 11th to 15th over, adding tactical depth to the death-over battle.

Players to watch

In the batting unit, Shubman Gill comes in as the most expensive player in IPL auction history after a record-breaking bilateral series against England. Rishabh Pant returns to his best at Lucknow Super Giants with an explosive first-10-over strike rate above 150 this season. Among the bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah remains the gold standard in T20 death bowling, while young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi has been the biggest wicket-taker so far in the tournament.

How SportGod AI tracks it

Every ball of every match is processed in real time through our Sportmonks integration. Win probability updates every delivery using a model trained on 8 years of T20 data. Fantasy points, momentum ratings and tactical alerts are all live — start your season on the SportGod AI dashboard now.