Exchange22 IPL 2026 hub: schedule, squads, and fantasy picks

IPL 2026 schedule and format

The IPL 2026 league stage is planned as a 74-match home-and-away round-robin across the ten franchises. Each side plays the other nine twice — once at home, once away — which gives you 14 league matches per team before the playoffs. The top four advance to the knockouts: Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and the Final.

Key dates for fantasy players

• Opening weekend: late March 2026, with the season curtain-raiser typically a Saturday evening fixture.
• First double-header day: usually the Sunday of week one, giving you two Exchange22 contests to enter.
• Mid-season break: a short window in early May when international duty pulls players out.
• Playoff window: the final three weeks of May, ending with the IPL 2026 Final.

All ten franchise squads for IPL 2026

Each IPL franchise carries a base price of ₹2 crore for retained Indian players and a similar ceiling for overseas stars. Squad size rules remain capped at 25, with a maximum of eight overseas players. Below is the squad shape to keep in mind when you build an Exchange22 fantasy XI.

Always check the final squad on the Exchange22 player list before locking your XI. Last-minute replacements and impact-player inclusions are common, especially in the first three weeks of the season.

Pitch reports by venue

Pitch reading is one of the highest-leverage skills in Exchange22 fantasy. A Wankhede track that gives 200-plus scores rewards top-order batters, while a Chepauk red-soil surface pushes captaincy picks toward spinners and anchor batters. Use these venue notes as a starting point and adjust on toss day.

Batting-friendly venues

• Wankhede, Mumbai: true bounce, short square boundaries — openers and death-over batters score heavily.
• Bengaluru (Chinnaswamy): small straight boundaries, high run rates — pick at least one power-hitter.
• Hyderabad (Uppal): flat deck in early season — pace bowlers who can swing the new ball get fantasy points.

Bowling-friendly venues

• Chepauk, Chennai: slow turner, spinners dominate — finger-spinners and anchors win you contests.
• Eden Gardens, Kolkata: evening dew helps chasing sides but early overs reward pace.
• Jaipur (SMS): traditionally spin-friendly, but short boundaries bring in one wrist-spinner.

Fantasy outlook on Exchange22

The Exchange22 team builder works on a 100-credit cap with mandatory role buckets: 1 wicketkeeper, 3 batters, 1 all-rounder, 3 bowlers and 3 more from any role. The captain doubles your points and the vice-captain gets 1.5x. Most league-winning teams on Exchange22 pick an all-rounder as captain in the powerplay-to-death overs window.

Three selection rules for IPL 2026

• Pick the venue, not the name. Averages mislead on small samples. Trust the venue profile and the role.
• Captain an all-rounder unless the pitch is extreme. All-rounders give you two scoring streams — bat and ball — which smooths out low scores.
• Save 6–8 credits for the impact player. Death-over specialists are cheap and haul big when the match goes deep.

Read more in our fantasy tips section, or open the team-by-team teams database for current form and fantasy price on Exchange22.

Captain vs vice-captain splits

Pick captain and vice-captain from two different match situations. If your captain is a top-order batter on a flat track, your vice-captain should be a bowler from a chasing side, so the points are spread across innings phases.