Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the defending champions, will face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on the opening night of the ipl season on March 28, 2026 (ET) at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. That confirmed opener points toward a tournament structured in two phases, with venue clearances and election timetables shaping which fixtures appear in the first release.
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, March 28 opener and Royal Challengers Bengaluru
The season-opening game will be played on March 28, 2026 (ET) with RCB meeting SRH at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and RCB enter as the defending champions. The stadium was cleared by the Karnataka government recently to host matches after uncertainty following the tragic loss of 11 lives in a stampede last June during RCB’s IPL victory celebrations, but the fixture remains conditional on further inspection.
Karnataka expert committee and the March 13 inspection
The Karnataka state government’s expert committee will conduct a meeting and inspection of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 13, 2026 (ET), when a full-scale mock demonstration of match-day arrangements will be carried out to assess stadium preparedness. That March 13 inspection is the explicit next milestone for confirming the stadium’s role in the opening night.
Ipl schedule phase, teams and the April opening-weekend plan
Organizers have released the first phase of fixtures comprising 20 matches, and the opening weekend will not feature double-headers; the second game of that weekend will pair Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. With elections scheduled in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam, the season is being split into phases so the first release covers 20 matches and all ten teams will play four games each in this phase.
- Based on context data:
- Opening match: RCB vs SRH on March 28, 2026 (ET) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
- Expert committee inspection and mock demonstration: March 13, 2026 (ET).
- Opening-weekend second game: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede.
- First phase: 20 matches; each of the ten teams plays four games in this phase.
- First-phase double-headers scheduled over April 4-5 and April 11-12 weekends.
Still, individual team venue plans appear spread across cities: Rajasthan Royals will wrap up the Guwahati leg with three matches in that first phase and play remaining home fixtures at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Two other teams have confirmed secondary grounds for matches this season: RCB will play two matches in Raipur and Punjab Kings (PBKS) will stage three matches in Dharamsala. The ipl schedule in the context also references weekends of April 4-5 and April 11-12 as sites for four double-headers in the first phase.
Should the current trajectory continue — clearances granted and the expert committee endorsing the arrangements on March 13, 2026 (ET) — the opening-night plan at M Chinnaswamy would proceed, and the rest of the first-phase fixtures would remain intact while the second phase is released after election dates are finalised. If the committee withholds clearance after the March 13 inspection, alternative venues or a reshuffle of the first-phase fixtures would be required to preserve the March 28 opener.
What the context does not resolve is the detailed grouping of teams within the first phase and the exact composition of the remaining fixtures beyond the 20 matches that have been released. The next confirmed signal is the expert committee’s meeting and mock demonstration on March 13, 2026 (ET); that assessment will determine whether Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium stays on the schedule for the March 28 opener and how the remainder of the ipl calendar will be finalized.
