IPL in January? Lalit Modi Proposes Winter Window, Juhi Chawla Backs Him as BCCI Weighs Earlier 2027 Start

By Imran Javed | 11 November 2026

No, the IPL is not moving to January. Not yet, anyway. Lalit Modi, the founder of the Indian Premier League, has proposed shifting the tournament out of the April-May heat and into a January window, and Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Juhi Chawla has backed him. The BCCI, meanwhile, is only discussing a far smaller change for IPL 2027: starting a couple of weeks earlier, around 10 March. A January IPL is a proposal. Nothing more.

Key Facts

What Lalit Modi Actually Proposed

Modi did not just float a date. He made an argument about power. His post opened with the line now being widely shared: “The IPL does not need a window. It creates its own.” “The IPL does not need the ICC to give it a window. The IPL is a domestic tournament owned and operated by the BCCI. The BCCI can decide when to stage it,” he wrote, adding that international commitments and player releases would still need managing.

Then came the proposal itself: “My proposal is to seriously examine moving the IPL from the increasingly punishing April-May heat, with two alternatives: a January start or a carefully structured October-April competition calendar.” He closed with a line aimed at the administrators: “You cannot run tomorrow’s cricket on yesterday’s economics.”

Modi built the IPL in 2008 and is credited as its architect. He was later expelled from the league and the BCCI, and he has raised the calendar idea before.

What Juhi Chawla Said

KKR co-owner Chawla picked up Modi’s argument on X on Monday, 9 November. “The IPL no longer needs to find its place in the cricket calendar. It has earned the right to influence it,” she wrote. “So why keep playing the biggest cricket tournament on the planet in the harshest heat? And if the calendar is being reconsidered, why not January instead of April-May?” She added: “Better conditions. Better cricket. A better experience for everyone overall.” Her backing matters: she owns one of the league’s biggest franchises.

The Heat Problem Is Real

Anyone who has sat through a 3:30 pm game in Ahmedabad or Chennai in May knows what they mean: day games in the Indian summer regularly cross 40 degrees, and even evening games start in heavy heat. Players cramp, bowlers cut spells short, and families in the stands endure it for the cricket, not the conditions. The 2026 season ran 28 March to 31 May, so the playoffs landed in the fiercest heat. A January IPL would flip that completely: cool evenings, comfortable crowds, and bowlers who can bend their backs for four overs without wilting.

Proposal vs Decision: What the BCCI Has Actually Said

To be clear: the BCCI has not agreed to a January IPL, and has not even said it is considering one. What the board has discussed is a much smaller adjustment. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told PTI in June that the board and the IPL Governing Council were exploring an earlier IPL 2027 start, around 10 March to 15 May, to avoid extreme heat and pre-monsoon showers late in the tournament. Saikia confirmed Abey Kuruvilla, the BCCI’s general manager for game development, had been asked to explore possible windows.

That is a shift of roughly two weeks, not three months: same spring slot, just starting sooner and finishing before the worst May heat. Modi and Chawla want a fundamental rethink; the BCCI, so far, is looking at a modest nudge. The 2027 schedule has not been officially announced at all.

Why a January IPL Is Far From Simple

The calendar argument against January is just as strong, and it is why this idea has stayed an idea. January is already one of the busiest months in world cricket: Australia’s Big Bash League runs through it, and South Africa’s SA20 and the UAE’s ILT20 both occupy the January-February stretch. All three chase the same overseas players the IPL depends on.

Then there is India’s own calendar: January is prime home-season time, with Test and white-ball commitments that cannot simply move. Modi’s answer is that the IPL’s commercial weight should force everyone else to adjust. “Commercial reality is a very unforgiving umpire,” he wrote. “For many international players, an IPL contract can represent a substantial proportion of their annual cricket earnings. That economic gravity is not going away.” But boards do not give up home seasons easily, and broadcasters have sold January inventory years in advance.

What Happens Next

For now, watch the BCCI, not the headlines. The board has a 2027 schedule to announce, and the first real signal will be whether it lands on the March window Saikia described or something bolder. January, for now, is a proposal. But it names the IPL’s biggest weakness, its summer heat, and offers a clear answer to it.

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