The Indian Premier League 2026 will start on March 26, with the final being played on May 31, BCCI has informed the franchises, as reported by Cricbuzz.
This outcome came from the meeting between the IPL franchises on Monday in Abu Dhabi ahead of the auction on Tuesday. The dates were disclosed by IPL CEO Hemang Amin.
Doubts over M Chinnaswamy Stadium remain
Meanwhile, the report added that there remain doubts over M Chinnaswamy Stadium hosting the opening match of the tournament after the stampede last season. The first match of a season is generally hosted by the defending champion, in this case Bengaluru, after Royal Challengers Bengaluru had won their maiden IPL title last season.
19 players added to auction list
Meanwhile, there is an addition of 19 more players to the auction list. The mini-auction ahead of the 19th season will take place on Tuesday, December 16, in Abu Dhabi. The new list features an addition of 19 players, with Abhimanyu Easwaran getting added to the tally.
As per reports, Indian-born Nikhil Chaudhary, who plays in Australia's domestic circuit, has now been listed as an Australian player. He was earlier listed as an Indian player.
The other players added to the auction list are Mani Shankar Mura Singh, Virandeep Singh (Malaysia), Chama Milind, KL Shrijith, Eathan Bosch (South Africa), Chris Green (Australia), Swastik Chikara, Rahul Raj Namala, Virat Singh, Tripuresh Singh, Kyle Verreynne (South Africa), Blessing Muzarabani (Zimbabwe), Ben Sears (New Zealand), Rajesh Mohanty, Swastik Samal, Saransh Jain, Sooraj Sangaraju and Tanmay Agarwal.
Meanwhile, the IPL auction will take place in Abu Dhabi on December 16. Now, 369 players have been registered for the bidding war that will begin at 2:30 PM IST on Tuesday. A total of 77 players can be bought by the franchises to complete the upper limit of their squads to 25.
