The schedule for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was finally announced today, with the season commencing on March 28. However, the schedule has only been confirmed for the first two weeks with the BCCI waiting for the election dates in several states to be announced. Nevertheless, a few of the matches among the 20 fixtures announced today are really exciting as they will attract a lot of fans not only to the stadiums but also to the television sets. Here’s the list of three matches to look forward to from the IPL 2026 schedule:
1. RCB vs SRH
Royal Challengers Bengaluru are playing the opening game of the IPL season for the seventh time in history. For the first time, though they will be taking the field as the defending champions, having won the IPL for the first time in 18 years in 2025. Though it is not a repeat of the final, the match against SRH will certainly pose a massive challenge for RCB and the fans are expected to get to witness a thriller. The match is being played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, finally, after so much drama over the last few months over its ability to host a big event. Virat Kohli is returning to the field after a decent gap while the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head will be taking the field for SRH. This prospect also makes the RCB vs SRH clash exciting to start IPL 2026.
2. RR vs CSK
IPL organisers are smart enough to make Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings lock horns at the start of their respective campaigns this season. Arguably the biggest trade in the history of IPL happened between these two teams as CSK acquired Sanju Samson’s services at the expense of Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. That Samson and Jadeja played for than a decade for RR and CSK respectively makes this match even more exciting. How will the duo fare against their former teams? Moreover, Curran is not a mug either as he was terrific in the T20 World Cup 2026 and all eyes will be on his performance as well. Samson won the player of the tournament award while it will be weird to see Jadeja in the pink jersey. Get ready to witness the thriller on March 30 in Guwahati!!
3. KKR vs PBKS
Many will be surprised to see this match in the list ahead of MI vs RCB, RCB vs CSK and MI vs CSK. But there is a reason for the same. Remember the 31st match of IPL 2025? Even though it was played in Mullanpur, PBKS famously defended 111 runs against KKR to win by 16 runs. The low-scoring thriller was unexpected but Yuzvendra Chahal’s spell (4/28) and Shreyas Iyer’s brilliant captaincy led to KKR collapsing from 62/2 to 95/10 in a stunning way. Hence, KKR vs PBKS will be the clash to watch out for this time but at the Eden Gardens, we might witness the high-scoring thriller.
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