IPL Team Grouping – Explained

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is arguably the longest T20 league in the world. It is because of the fact there are 10 teams featuring in the tournament and due to that, the league must stretch over a long period of time.

It takes a significant chunk of international calendar but at the same time mints a lot of revenue and give wholesome lot of entertainment.

Until 2021

But back when the IPL was played amongst 8 sides, the IPL schedule when it comes to the league phase was quite straight forward. Each team plays every other team twice in the league phase on a home and away basis. This means the number of league games played amounted to 56 along with 4 playoffs.

If the same thing is followed in the current set-up of 10 teams in IPL, the number of league games increases to 90 and the number of days also increases proportionally. To maintain a balance, IPL committee and BCCI have formulated a plan to make sure that IPL schedule is manageable and not coinciding with the international calendar.

Since 2022

Since the 2022 edition has had ten teams (after addition of Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans), teams are divided into groups as opposed to the erstwhile routine of single group. So, with this, the sides are split into 2 groups with 5 teams each. 

For example, this is how each group read in the 2024 edition.

Group A: Mumbai Indians (MI), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Delhi Capitals (DC), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

Group B: Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Punjab Kings (PBKS), Gujarat Titans (GT)

In the current IPL group stage scenario, each team will face off against every other team in their group twice, and the total comes up to 8 games per team in their own group. Additionally, they will lock horns against a single team from the opposite group twice, while facing off with the remaining four teams once each in the competition. Consequently, each side will participate in 14 games during the league phase of the IPL. But let’s not forget, each side will have 7 home and away matches respectively. 

For instance, if we take example of CSK in IPL 2024, they faced all their Group B members SRH, RCB, PBKS and GT twice, while the only team they face that many times from Group A is LSG