The first match of the tournament is scheduled to be played between the defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru
Sourav Ganguly (Pic: File Pic)
The IPL 2026 is all set to kick off from March 28. So far, the schedule of only first 20 matches has been released due to state elections.
Ahead of the cash-rich league, former Team India cricketer Sourav Ganguly said that the 'Impact Player' rule in the tournament will continue to stay.
"Impact player rule I think it's going to stay, and when I was the president of BCCI it had already come in. So, this is here to stay, someone will like it someone will not," he said.
Despite the hype of T20 cricket in the world, the former cricketer chose Test as the superior format of the game. He also said that T20 cricket is least challenging and countries such as India, England, Australia, and South Africa, the red-ball cricket will always be special.
"I think Test cricket is the real format because one has to bowl 20-25 overs in one day, bowling four overs in a T20 match is a lot easy. T20 cricket is least challenging in terms of quality. But T20 cricket is the format which brings in people, it's just for three hours in the evening full of sixes and fours," said Ganguly.
"But in countries like India, England, Australia and South Africa Test cricket will always be special and when you see young players want to play Test cricket, it proves Test cricket is the strongest format of the game," he added.
He also hailed the Indian Premier League (IPL) by saying that it will continue to reach greater heights.
"IPL will only go to greater heights. This is phenomenal and it also goes to show the game is expanding as the game is going to America, onto that part of the world is fantastic. It's mind-blowing numbers but there is lot's more in store for Indian cricket and I am looking forward to it," said the 53-year-old former cricketer.
IPL 2026, Opening match: Date and venue
The first match of the tournament is scheduled to be played between the defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Earlier, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Secretary, Santosh Menon, confirmed that the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium will host five of the RCB's IPL 2026 home games. The venue will also host one of the play-off matches and the title clash of the tournament.
Bengaluru's remaining two home matches will be played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
(With PTI Inputs)
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