Overview
- The BCCI, which announced the complete league slate Thursday, set 70 league matches for March 28 to May 24 with the second phase starting April 13 and playoff venues to follow.
- The calendar spreads games across 13 grounds and adds split home legs, with RCB moving two home fixtures to Raipur, Rajasthan playing part of their home slate in Guwahati, and Punjab returning to Dharamsala in May.
- The season opens Saturday in Bengaluru with RCB vs SRH at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where RCB will honor the 11 fans who died last year by training in No. 11 shirts, wearing black armbands, and reserving 11 permanent seats.
- Several overseas names will miss early games for fitness or workload management, including Pat Cummins for SRH and Australia teammates Josh Hazlewood for RCB and Mitchell Starc for Delhi, as PSL overlap and withdrawals also force late roster changes.
- Off the field, Reuters reports RCB’s $1.78 billion sale to an Indian‑US consortium, a deal that still needs BCCI and regulatory approvals and underscores rising IPL franchise valuations.