IPL Q&A with Virat Kohli, Jos Buttler, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Jacob Bethell and extra in T20 league, dwell on Sky Sports

All it is advisable to know forward of the 2026 Indian Premier League, with all 84 matches dwell on Sky Sports.

When is the IPL?

The nineteenth version of the IPL runs from March 28 to May 31.

Only dates for the primary 20 video games have been launched with elections in a number of Indian states delaying the announcement of the complete calendar.

Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will tackle Sunrisers Hyderabad within the opening sport on Saturday at M Chinnaswamy Stadium (3pm begin UK and Ireland time).

RCB lastly landed their first IPL title final season once they defeated Punjab Kings within the remaining to disclaim their opponents a maiden trophy.

Who are the IPL groups?

• Chennai Super Kings (winners in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023)
• Delhi Capitals (but to win the IPL)
• Gujarat Titans (winners in 2022)
• Kolkata Knight Riders (winners in 2012, 2014 and 2024)
• Lucknow Super Giants (but to win IPL)
• Mumbai Indians (winners in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020)
• Punjab Kings (but to win IPL)
• Rajasthan Royals (winners in 2008)
• Royal Challengers Bengaluru (winners in 2025)
• Sunrisers Hyderabad (winners in 2016)

How many England gamers are concerned?

Thirteen England gamers had been retained, traded or signed within the public sale with Titans and RCB having three every.

However, Ben Duckett then pulled out of a take care of Delhi Capitals so as to give attention to retaining his England place, whereas Sam Curran – who had been traded from Chennai to Rajasthan – will sit out the event with an unspecified harm.

Gloucestershire seamer David Payne has since been signed by Sunrisers as an harm substitute for Australian Jack Edwards so, as issues stand, there are 12 English gamers throughout the ten franchises.

The retained Jos Buttler is alongside batter Tom Banton and left-arm fast Luke Wood, each of whom joined him in England’s T20 World Cup squad in India and Sri Lanka earlier this 12 months.

RCB saved Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell, who additionally performed on the T20 World Cup as England reached the semi-finals, with the 2025 champions buying final 12 months’s Hundred MVP Jordan Cox, too.

Liam Livingstone, who just lately slammed the England regime for a way he was handled 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) finishing the English contingent.

Will Jos Buttler rediscover his finest kind?

Gujarat will hope that occurs – and so, too, England after the nation’s greatest-ever white-ball batter toiled in the course of the T20 World Cup, mustering solely 87 runs in eight innings at a mean of 10.87. His highest rating was 26. Grisly, grisly numbers.

Questions have been requested about Buttler’s England future and a poor IPL would add to these however this can be a event he has excelled in, amassing over 4,000 runs in his IPL profession, together with seven tons.

Buttler struck 538 runs for Gujarat final time period, together with his 5 fifties together with a 54-ball 97 not out in opposition to Delhi.

Will teenage star Sooryavanshi hearth once more?

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was signed by Rajasthan within the public sale as a 13-year-old after which lit up the event as a 14-year-old, slamming the primary ball he confronted within the competitors for six after which, in one other sport, smashing a outstanding 35-ball hundred.

The left-hander’s ton in opposition to Gujarat – the second-quickest in IPL historical past, behind solely Chris Gayle’s 30-ball century 12 years earlier – made him the youngest centurion in males’s T20 cricket and he has continued to vacuum up information since that startling knock.

They embrace the very best rating in a males’s Under-19 World Cup remaining, with Sooryavanshi clubbing 175 from solely 80 balls as India beat England earlier this 12 months.

Who are a few of the different star gamers concerned?

Kohli, as ever, can be a star attraction, whereas the members of India’s current T20 World Cup-winning squad can even be out to impress, together with Player of the Tournament Sanju Samson – who has left Rajasthan to hitch Chennai – and seam-bowling maestro Jasprit Bumrah, revolutionary batter Suryakumar Yadav and hard-hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya, every of whom play for Mumbai.

New Zealand’s Finn Allen – who clubbed a T20 World Cup-record 33-ball hundred within the Black Caps’ semi-final demolition of South Africa – is on Kolkata’s books. So, too, is Australia all-rounder Cameron Green after changing into the most costly abroad participant in IPL historical past when KKR forked out £2.09m for him within the public sale.

England’s Ashes nemesis Mitchell Starc performs for Delhi, whereas Australia Test captain Pat Cummins is predicted to make his return from harm in the course of the IPL. If he does, that can add considerably 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) because of political tensions between the 2 nations.

That triggered a sequence of occasions that noticed Bangladesh withdrawn from the T20 World Cup by the ICC after refusing to play their matches in India because of safety issues, and Pakistan then initially boycotting their sport versus India within the event in solidarity with Bangladesh earlier than ultimately opting to play that fixture.

Mustafizur has since signed for Lahore Qalandars within the Pakistan Super League (PSL), a contest which runs concurrently with the IPL. His place within the Kolkata squad has been taken by Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani, who pulled out of a PSL take care of Islamabad United so as to be a part of KKR.

Muzarabani will not be the one participant to ditch a PSL contract for the IPL with Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka additionally leaving Qalandars to interchange injured England man Sam Curran at Rajasthan.

How does the competitors work?

Franchises earn two factors for a win, none for a loss and one within the occasion of no outcome, with the highest 4 groups within the desk after the league stage advancing to the play-offs.

Teams are usually break up into two digital teams of 5, though there is just one desk. In this set-up, sides play the opposite 4 franchises of their group twice, plus 4 groups from the opposite pool as soon as and one twice.

However, with the complete match schedule not but launched, it has not been confirmed at this stage how the groups have been grouped.

The groups that end first and second advance to the primary qualifier, with the winner of that match progressing on to the ultimate and the losers dropping into the second qualifier.

The eliminator between the perimeters who end third and fourth within the desk will then happen, with the winners reaching the second qualifier and the losers knocked out.

The winners of the eliminator and the losers of the primary qualifier will then meet within the second qualifier. Whoever wins that takes the second spot within the remaining.

Indian Premier League fixtures 2026

Schedule till May 12 – full calendar to be revealed sooner or later

All 3pm UK and Ireland until acknowledged; all dwell 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

Thursday April 2: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Friday April 3: Chennai Super Kings vs Punjab Kings

Saturday April 4: Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians (11am)

Saturday April 4: Gujarat Titans vs Rajasthan Royals

Sunday April 5: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Lucknow Super Giants (11am)

Sunday April 5: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings

Monday April 6: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings

Tuesday April 7: Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians

Wednesday April 8: Delhi Capitals vs Gujarat Titans

Thursday April 9: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Lucknow Super Giants

Friday April 10: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Saturday April 11: Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (11am)

Saturday April 11: Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals

Sunday April 12: Lucknow Super Giants vs Gujarat Titans (11am)

Sunday April 12: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru