IPL Q&A with Virat Kohli, Jos Buttler, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Jacob Bethell and more in T20 league, live on Sky Sports
Watch all 84 matches from the IPL live on Sky Sports between March 28-May 31; here is all you need to know about fixtures, format, teams and players with Jofra Archer and Will Jacks among the England stars involved; Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bengaluru are the defending champions
Thursday 26 March 2026 15:05, UK
All you need to know ahead of the 2026 Indian Premier League, with all 84 matches live on Sky Sports.
When is the IPL?
The 19th edition of the IPL runs from March 28 to May 31.
Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening game on Saturday at M Chinnaswamy Stadium (2pm start UK and Ireland time).
RCB finally landed their first IPL title last season when they defeated Punjab Kings in the final to deny their opponents a maiden trophy.
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Who are the IPL teams?
- Chennai Super Kings (winners in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023)
- Delhi Capitals (yet to win the IPL)
- Gujarat Titans (winners in 2022)
- Kolkata Knight Riders (winners in 2012, 2014 and 2024)
- Lucknow Super Giants (yet to win IPL)
- Mumbai Indians (winners in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020)
- Punjab Kings (yet to win IPL)
- Rajasthan Royals (winners in 2008)
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru (winners in 2025)
- Sunrisers Hyderabad (winners in 2016)
How does the competition work?
Teams are split into two virtual groups of five, although there is only one table. This year, sides will play the other four franchises in their group once plus the five sides in the other group twice for a total of 14 group games.
- Group A: Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Punjab Kings.
- Group B: Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants.
Franchises earn two points for a win, none for a loss and one in the event of no result, with the top four teams in the table after the league stage advancing to the play-offs.
The teams that finish first and second advance to the first qualifier, with the winner of that match progressing directly to the final and the losers dropping into the second qualifier.
The eliminator between the sides who finish third and fourth in the table will then take place, with the winners reaching the second qualifier and the losers knocked out.
The winners of the eliminator and the losers of the first qualifier will then meet in the second qualifier. Whoever wins that takes the second spot in the final.
How many England players are involved?
Thirteen England players were retained, traded or signed in the auction with Titans and RCB having three each.
However, Ben Duckett then pulled out of a deal with Delhi Capitals in order to focus on retaining his England place, while Sam Curran - who had been traded from Chennai to Rajasthan - will sit out the tournament with an unspecified injury.
Gloucestershire seamer David Payne has since been signed by Sunrisers as an injury replacement for Australian Jack Edwards so, as things stand, there are 12 English players across the 10 franchises.
The retained Jos Buttler is alongside batter Tom Banton and left-arm quick Luke Wood, both of whom joined him in England's T20 World Cup squad in India and Sri Lanka earlier this year.
RCB kept Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell, who also played at the T20 World Cup as England reached the semi-finals, with the 2025 champions purchasing last year's Hundred MVP Jordan Cox, too.
Liam Livingstone, who recently slammed the England regime for how he was treated after being dropped, is at Sunrisers alongside Brydon Carse and Payne.
Jofra Archer will play for Rajasthan with Jamie Overton (Chennai) and Will Jacks (Mumbai) completing the English contingent.
Will Jos Buttler rediscover his best form?
Gujarat will hope that happens - and so, too, England after the country's greatest-ever white-ball batter toiled during the T20 World Cup, mustering only 87 runs in eight innings at an average of 10.87. His highest score was 26. Grisly, grisly numbers.
Questions have been asked about Buttler's England future and a poor IPL would add to those but this is a tournament he has excelled in, amassing over 4,000 runs in his IPL career, including seven tons.
Buttler struck 538 runs for Gujarat last term, with his five fifties including a 54-ball 97 not out against Delhi.
Will teenage star Sooryavanshi fire again?
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was signed by Rajasthan in the auction as a 13-year-old and then lit up the tournament as a 14-year-old, slamming the first ball he faced in the competition for six and then, in another game, smashing a remarkable 35-ball hundred.
The left-hander's ton against Gujarat - the second-quickest in IPL history, behind only Chris Gayle's 30-ball century 12 years earlier - made him the youngest centurion in men's T20 cricket and he has continued to hoover up records since that startling knock.
They include the highest score in a men's Under-19 World Cup final, with Sooryavanshi clubbing 175 from only 80 balls as India beat England earlier this year.
Who are some of the other star players involved?
Kohli, as ever, will be a star attraction, while the members of India's recent T20 World Cup-winning squad will also be out to impress, including Player of the Tournament Sanju Samson - who has left Rajasthan to join Chennai - and seam-bowling maestro Jasprit Bumrah, innovative batter Suryakumar Yadav and hard-hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya, each of whom play for Mumbai.
New Zealand's Finn Allen - who clubbed a T20 World Cup-record 33-ball hundred in the Black Caps' semi-final demolition of South Africa - is on Kolkata's books. So, too, is Australia all-rounder Cameron Green after becoming the most expensive overseas player in IPL history when KKR forked out £2.09m for him in the auction.
England's Ashes nemesis Mitchell Starc plays for Delhi, while Australia Test captain Pat Cummins is expected to make his return from injury at some stage in the IPL. If he does, that will add significantly to Sunrisers' bowling arsenal.
But no Mustafizur Rahman?
Nope. The Bangladesh left-arm seamer was withdrawn from the Kolkata squad by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) due to political tensions between the two nations.
That triggered a chain of events that saw Bangladesh withdrawn from the T20 World Cup by the ICC after refusing to play their matches in India due to security concerns, and Pakistan then initially boycotting their game versus India in the tournament in solidarity with Bangladesh before eventually opting to play that fixture.
Mustafizur has since signed for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), a competition which runs concurrently with the IPL. His place in the Kolkata squad has been taken by Zimbabwe's Blessing Muzarabani, who pulled out of a PSL deal with Islamabad United in order to join KKR.
Muzarabani is not the only player to ditch a PSL contract for the IPL with Sri Lanka's Dasun Shanaka also leaving Qalandars to replace injured England man Sam Curran at Rajasthan.
Indian Premier League opening fixtures 2026
All 3pm UK and Ireland unless stated; all live on Sky Sports
Saturday March 28: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (2pm)
Sunday March 29: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Monday March 30: Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings
Tuesday March 31: Punjab Kings vs Gujarat Titans
Wednesday April 1: Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals
