IPL Cricket Starts Today: Bengaluru And Hyderabad Face Off In The First Match. The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 cricket tournament is starting today. The opening match will see defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad clash.
The match between Bengaluru and Hyderabad will start at 8:45 PM at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Bengaluru is captained by Rajat Patidar, while Hyderabad is under the caretaker captaincy of Ishan Kishan.
Regular captain Pat Cummins is recovering from a back injury and will not be available for the first few matches. Kishan will therefore take over the captaincy.
The initial phase will see 20 matches played from March 28 to April 11. These matches will be played at 10 different venues. After that, 50 matches will be played from April 13 to May 24.
These matches will be played in 12 different cities across India, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Dharamsala, Raipur and New Chandigarh.
This phase also includes eight double-header matches, where two matches will be played on the same day. The afternoon match will start at 3:45 PM Nepali time, and the evening match will start at 7:45 PM.
RCB will also play some of their ‘home’ matches in Raipur, while Punjab Kings will make Dharamsala and New Chandigarh their home grounds.
The match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings on May 11 in Dharamsala will be played exclusively, which was cancelled due to disruption during the previous season.
Bengaluru defeated Punjab Kings in the final of the last edition to win the title for the first time.