5 days for IPL: 5 exciting things to watch out
What's the story
The 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to be a historic one, with an unprecedented 84-match format. The season will kick off on March 28 and conclude with a grand finale at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on May 31. The opening match will see defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) take on Sunrisers Hyderabad. With the 2026 edition being five days away, let's look at five exciting things to watch out for in the season.
#1
84 games in the season
The 2026 season marks a major increase in the number of games. The upcoming edition is set to have 84 matches in total, 10 more than the usual 74 matches, which happened last year as well. 80 of the games will take place in the league stage. The remaining four will be in the playoffs. Owing to the assembly elections in many states, the BCCI has so far released the IPL schedule just for the first 20 days.
#2
Samson will be seen in yellow
After serving Rajasthan Royals for over a decade, Sanju Samson will don the Chennai Super Kings jersey in the upcoming season. The transfer stunned the cricket world as Samson scored over 4,000 runs for the Royals. He was also their captain till the last season. Samson will now play under Ruturaj Gaikwad's leadership at CSK.
#3
Jadeja returns to the Royals
In the same deal that saw Samson go to CSK, veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja returned to the Royals. It must be noted that Jadeja had previously represented RR in 2008 and 2009, playing a major role in their title win in the inaugural season. The all-rounder joined CSK ahead of the 2012 season. He went on to represent the franchise across 12 seasons. Jadeja is now again set to shine in RR colors.
#4
Will CSK's strategy be worth it?
CSK stunned one and all by splashing ₹14.2 crore each on uncapped players Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer at the 2026 IPL auction. No other uncapped player has even fetched 11 crore at the IPL auction table. Both Kartik and Prashant are under 21 and have never featured in IPL before. Hence, it will be interesting to see how they tackle this challenge. While Veer is a left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder, Kartik happens to be a dashing wicketkeeper-batter.
#5
Will this be Dhoni's final hurrah?
CSK ace MS Dhoni, who made his last Team India appearance in July 2019, will be playing in his seventh IPL season since his international retirement. His role has been drastically reduced in the last few seasons, as his position in the batting order has often been criticized. With Dhoni being 44 now, many again speculate that this could be the talisman's final hurrah. However, the possibility of Dhoni's retirement has been a recurring topic for the past several editions.