IPL 2026: Indian Premier League CEO 'Discloses' New Season Dates On Auction Eve - Report

The Board of Control of Cricket for India (BCCI) have dropped a major update about the start of the Indian Premier League 2026 season. It comes only a day before the IPL mini-auction takes place on Tuesday, December 16 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

According to Cricbuzz, the 2026 IPL season is set to begin from March 26 onwards with the finale taking place on May 31. The show-piece cricketing extravaganza will start exactly 2 and a half weeks after the conclusion of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.

The World T20 finale will commence on March 8 and the players will join their respective IPL franchises right away.

As usual, a total of 74 matches will take place across the nation with all the 10 franchises chasing the ultimate glory. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru will enter the competition as the reigning champions, having won their maiden title last year.

It was also the completion of the cycle for Virat Kohli, who had reached 3 IPL finals in 2009, 2011 and 2016, prior to their appearance last season.

RCB had defended a target of 190 runs, bowling Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings, who were making just their 2nd finale appearance, out for 184.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

16 players retained | 4 overseas |Cap remaining: ₹43.40

Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Jamie Overton, MS Dhoni, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Noor Ahmad, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Sanju Samson (T), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Gopal, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, Urvil Patel.

Delhi Capitals (DC)

17 players retained | 3 overseas |Cap remaining: ₹21.80

Abhishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, Nitish Rana (T), Sameer Rizvi, T. Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam.

Gujarat Titans (GT)

20 players retained | 4 overseas | Cap remaining: ₹12.90

Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Mohammad Siraj, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Prasidh Krishna, R. Sai Kishore, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

12 players retained | 2 overseas |Cap remaining: ₹64.30

Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

19 players retained | 4 overseas | Total spent: ₹102.05 | Cap remaining: ₹22.95

Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar (T), Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Md Shami (T), Mitchell Marsh, Mohsin Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Ahmed

Mumbai Indians (MI)

20 players retained | 7 overseas | Cap remaining: ₹2.75

Allah Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande (T), Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, *Ryan Rickelton, Shardul Thakur (T), Sherfane Rutherford (T), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Trent Boult, Will Jacks

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

21 players retained | 6 overseas | Cap remaining: ₹11.50

Arshdeep Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harnoor Pannu, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen, Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Owen, Musheer Khan, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

16 players retained | 7 overseas | Cap remaining: ₹16.05

Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira (T), Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-Dre Pretorious, Nandre Burger, Ravindra Jadeja (T), Riyan Parag, Sam Curran (T), Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Charak

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

17 players retained | 6 overseas | Cap remaining: ₹16.40

Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Nuwan Thushara, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Dar, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

15 players retained | 6 overseas | Cap remaining: ₹25.50

Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Smaran Ravichandaran, Travis Head, Zeeshan Ansari