Here Are All The Venues And Dates For IPL 2026 Playoffs

The business end of the Indian Premier League is officially here. After 70 matches that have delivered everything from last-over thrillers to breakout performances, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has unveiled the playoff schedule for the 2026 season.

The playoffs will kick off on May 26 with Qualifier 1 at the picturesque HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala, where the top two teams on the points table will go head-to-head for a direct ticket to the final.

IPL 2026 Playoffs Schedule

From there, the game shifts to the New International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh, which will host both the Eliminator on May 27 and the second Qualifier on May 29. The Eliminator, featuring the third and fourth-placed teams, is as unforgiving as it gets, while Qualifier 2 will decide who joins the first finalist, pitting the Eliminator winner against the Qualifier 1 loser in what is often the most emotionally charged match of the playoffs.

All roads, however, lead to May 31, when the finale of IPL 2026 will unfold at the colossal Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Being the largest cricket stadium in the world, it’s a venue built for a spectacle this grand, and there’s something fitting about a tournament of this scale culminating in a setting that matches its ambition.

Interestingly, the playoffs are being spread across three venues this season as a one-off arrangement. Bengaluru was initially in line to host the final, but due to requirements from local authorities that fell outside the BCCI’s standard operational framework, the board opted to relocate the final clash to Ahmedabad instead. 

By the time the lights blaze at the Narendra Modi Stadium on May 31, what remains would be the two best teams fighting it off for the trophy at the final. And that, more than anything else, is what makes an IPL finale worth watching.