IPL 2027 Schedule, Start Date, Venues and Time Table

That is the third plan for this season, so it helps to know all of them. In November 2024 the BCCI gave franchises a window of 14 March to 30 May 2027. In June 2026, Saikia floated a 10 March to 15 May window to beat the late-May heat and rain. His September comment about a late-March start is the latest word, and none of the three has been made official.

The full IPL 2027 time table should arrive after the player auction, which the BCCI has told franchises will take place in Goa on 16 December 2026. The day the fixtures are published, this page will carry all 74 matches with IST start times, double-header days flagged, filters by team and city, and a PDF download. Until then, here is what is actually known and what it means if you are planning to watch a game at the ground.

The fixtures always come after the auction. Last year the auction was held in Abu Dhabi on 16 December 2025, and the schedule then came out in two parts. The first phase covered 20 matches from 28 March to 12 April. The second phase, with the other 50 league games from 13 April to 24 May, was announced later because assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam had to be worked around. The playoff venues were not named until 6 May 2026, when the season was already more than half done.

A late-March start gives the board about 14 weeks between the Goa auction and the first ball, close to last season’s gap of 102 days. Our expectation is that the fixtures will be out in January or early February 2027, but this is the site’s estimate, not anything the BCCI has said.

Elections could slow it down again. Assembly elections are due in early 2027 in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the home states of Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings. The Election Commission has not announced polling dates yet. If voting overlaps with March or April, expect another phased release like 2026.

The road to the IPL 2027 fixtures

The dates have moved twice in five months. In June, Saikia made the case for starting on 10 March. His argument was that after about 15 May some host cities face early pre-monsoon rain, and the ones that stay dry get very hot, which is hard on players and on fans in open stands. By September he was talking about a start towards the end of March instead, which is roughly where the last three seasons began.

The international calendar is the likely reason. The fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is scheduled for 27 February to 3 March 2027 in Ahmedabad, according to Wisden. A 10 March start would have given India and Australia’s Test players about a week to switch to T20 cricket. A late-March start gives them more than three weeks, which suits the players, their boards and the franchises.

The table below puts both earlier 2027 plans next to the last four seasons. We have counted the days ourselves, including both the first and last day, so you can see how much cricket each window holds.

IPL season windows compared, 2023 to 2027

Every recent season has fitted 74 matches into 60 to 74 days. If IPL 2027 starts in the last week of March and runs as long as 2026 did, the final lands around the end of May. That is exactly the stretch the June plan was trying to avoid, so watch for the BCCI tightening the gap between the league stage and the final. Either way, expect most of the league stage in April and May.

IPL 2027 is expected to have 74 matches, the same as the last four seasons. That is 70 league games and four playoffs. There was talk of expanding to 84 matches, and the 2024 window was set with that in mind, but Saikia has indicated that any increase is more likely from 2028. So 74 it is, until the BCCI says otherwise.

Each team plays 14 league games. Since 2022 the 10 teams have been split into two groups of five. A team plays the four sides in its own group twice, home and away. It plays four teams from the other group once, and one team from the other group twice. That one extra rivalry is why some fans get two RCB vs CSK games in a season and others don’t. When the fixtures land, check which side your team plays twice from the other group, because that tells you a lot about how hard the draw is.

Match timings in IST

In 2026, evening matches started at 7.30 PM IST and afternoon matches on double-header days started at 3.30 PM IST. There is no announcement for 2027 yet, but these slots have been stable for several seasons and we expect them to stay. The toss is usually 30 minutes before the first ball, at 7 PM IST and 3 PM IST.

Our double-header calculation

Double-header days matter if you are buying tickets for an afternoon game, when the heat in April and May can be serious in some cities. The BCCI has not said how many there will be in 2027, so we worked out the minimum for each window that has been talked about.

In 2026 the league stage ended on 24 May and the final was on 31 May, a gap of seven days for the playoffs. We applied that same gap to both earlier 2027 plans.

The 2026 numbers check out neatly. There were 58 days in the league stage and 12 double-headers, which made 70 matches with a game on every single day. A late-March start with a similar length would need about the same 12. In practice the BCCI tends to add rest days and stack games on weekends, so 12 to 14 double-headers is a reasonable guess for 2027. Every one of them will be flagged in the full schedule on this page once it is out.

Three teams split their home games across two cities last season, and that is the part most likely to change again. RCB played five home games in Bengaluru and two in Raipur. Rajasthan played three in Guwahati and four in Jaipur. Punjab played four in New Chandigarh and three in Dharamshala. Those splits were confirmed when the second phase of the 2026 schedule was released.

The final venue is the biggest open question. By tradition, the defending champions’ home ground hosts the final. Bengaluru was originally set to host the 2026 final, but the BCCI moved it to Ahmedabad, citing operational and logistical reasons. With RCB defending the title again, whether the 2027 final goes to the Chinnaswamy is something we will only know when the fixtures appear.

The 2026 season ran from 28 March to 31 May. RCB opened their title defence against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy on 28 March. The first double-header came on 4 April, with Delhi Capitals hosting Mumbai Indians at 3.30 PM IST and Gujarat Titans hosting Rajasthan Royals at 7.30 PM IST.

The playoffs were played across three venues for the first time. Qualifier 1 was held in Dharamshala on 26 May, the Eliminator in New Chandigarh on 27 May, Qualifier 2 in New Chandigarh on 29 May, and the final in Ahmedabad on 31 May. RCB, Gujarat, Sunrisers and Rajasthan were the four playoff teams.

On TV, Star Sports carried every match in India, and JioHotstar streamed them. The media rights deal runs through 2027, so the same arrangement is expected next season.