The 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is scheduled to be held from Thursday, March 26 to Sunday, May 31 next year.
This was the key finding of the meeting between the 10 franchises and IPL officials in Abu Dhabi on Monday, December 15. They met at the W Hotel in Abu Dhabi in the evening on the eve of the highly anticipated mini-auction.
However, there is still no clarity about whether the IPL 2025 champions' home ground will be the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru or not. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)Will host the opening match of the cash-rich tournament.
League CEO Hemang Amin revealed the dates for IPL 2026 during a briefing ahead of Tuesday's auction, which will be held at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
While the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has been given conditional approval from the state government to organize IPL games at the venue, it will have to take care of the prescribed safety and security requirements. For those unaware, the opening match of the IPL is usually held at the home ground of the previous season's champion.
Asked about the possibility of starting the league in Chinnaswamy, a top BCCI official said, “We hope so.” After this he further said, 'The Deputy Chief Minister of the state (DK Shivakumar) himself has said so.'
The Deputy Chief Minister was recently quoted in the media as saying: “We have taken a decision about the IPL matches. We are positive. We have asked our Home Minister G Parameshwara to hold a meeting with them (KSCA officials). Parameshwara will discuss with the Cricket Association. The Home Minister will deal with it.”
The hesitation over the Chinnaswamy Stadium stems from the deadly stampede at the iconic venue on June 4, as at least 11 fans lost their lives during RCB's celebrations with the IPL trophy. Since then, the state government has been rejecting requests to host cricket matches at the venue. BCCI had to shift the scheduled matches of the Women's World Cup to different venues.
Meanwhile, clouds of uncertainty were looming over Abhimanyu Easwaran's name being suggested for the IPL 2026 mini-auction. Cricbuzz has now confirmed that the Bengal captain has indeed been added to the final list that will be shared with the IPL franchises ahead of the auction. Easwaran's name can be found at number 360 in the spreadsheet.
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