IPL 2027 Dates Revealed As BCCI Declares Major Change

BCCI Secretary and IPL trophy - (Source: AFP)

In a significant development, the 20th edition of IPL, set to begin next year, has got a new window. After months of speculation, the BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed the change and revealed the new dates for IPL 2027.

For the unversed, there was a chatter going around within the BCCI that the board members are looking for a new window to beat the scorching heat and improve fan experience. A couple of weeks ago, Saikia confirmed the same, but didn’t reveal the start date until Thursday, June 18.

IPL 2027 Preponed By 2 Weeks

BCCI secretary confirmed that IPL 2027 has been preponed by two weeks and will start from around March 10. Speaking to PTI, Saikia stated that the league will run from March 10 to May 15, which is 2 months and 7 days. 

Ideally, the cash-studded league starts in the last week of March and finishes in the last week of May or the first week of June. Talking about IPL 2026, it started from March 28, and the final was held on May 31. 

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Why Did The BCCI Prepone IPL 2027?

As mentioned above, BCCI felt that the changing the window was required to tackle the adverse weather condition. Devajit Saikia stated that as seen in IPL 2026, in the last two weeks of May, several states have the problem of scorching heat and the other tackling pre-monsoon season.

"This year, IPL started around the 29th of March, and it was over by the 31st of May. After 15th of May, there are issues regarding the weather, particularly in some areas, there is apprehension of having rainfall or the pre-monsoon season," Devajit Saikia stated.

"From next year,  I have already instructed our general manager games development to look for the windows whether we can start it by 10th of March so that we want to conclude it by 15th of May so that there is no adverse weather conditions in the run-up to the final stages playoff and the finals of the IPL 2027," he added.

BCCI Secretary Turns Down IPL Expansion Suggestion

Besides the window change, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia also turned down IPL expansion suggestion.

The IPL expansion hinted at the possibility that each team will play a home and away game, resulting in 18 group stage matches for every participating team from the current 14 matches. However, Saikia has turned that down.

"So, at this moment there is no discussion regarding increasing it from 74 to any further matches up to 94 which is not happening immediately. In course of later years I do not know what will be the position but right at this moment I don't see any possibility of increasing it from 74 to 94." Saikia added.

Notably, Saikia had also turned down the suggestion in the past as well because they also have to keep the interest of teams like South africa, Australia, and England in mind.

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