PKL Match Timings: When Do Pro Kabaddi Matches Start in IST?

Pkl match timings follow an evening pattern that regular viewers set their nights by. In Season 12, the first match of a match night typically started at 8:00 PM IST. When two matches were played back to back, the second typically started at 9:00 PM IST, and on triple-header nights the third match typically started at 9:30 PM IST. Those are the reference times this post works from — what they meant in India, and what they mean for fans watching from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Pakistan, and the UK. Season 13 timings are To Be Announced, and this page will update when the league confirms them.

PKL Match Timings in India (IST)

Match on the night	Typical start (IST)	Seen on
First match	8:00 PM	Every match night
Second match	9:00 PM	Double headers
Third match	9:30 PM	Triple headers

The pattern puts the whole night inside prime evening hours. A single-match night is one 8:00 PM start and done. A double header runs two matches from 8:00 PM, the second following at about 9:00 PM as the first ends. Triple headers, used on the busiest nights of the caravan legs, stack a third match at 9:30 PM — a tighter turnaround made possible by the short gap between matches at the same venue. A kabaddi match itself runs two halves of 20 minutes plus the interval and raid-clock stoppages, which is how these start times stack without pushing the last match past midnight in India.

PKL Match Timings Around the World

Kabaddi’s overseas audience is concentrated in the Gulf and Pakistan, with a growing following in the UK. The conversions below use the standard offsets from Indian Standard Time for the pkl match timings: Saudi Arabia (AST) is 2 hours 30 minutes behind IST, the UAE is 1 hour 30 minutes behind, and Pakistan (PKT) is 30 minutes behind. The UK needs care — it sits 4 hours 30 minutes behind IST during British Summer Time and 5 hours 30 minutes behind during GMT, so both figures are shown.

Start (IST)	Saudi Arabia (AST)	UAE (GST)	Pakistan (PKT)	UK (BST)	UK (GMT)
8:00 PM	5:30 PM	6:30 PM	7:30 PM	3:30 PM	2:30 PM
9:00 PM	6:30 PM	7:30 PM	8:30 PM	4:30 PM	3:30 PM
9:30 PM	7:00 PM	8:00 PM	9:00 PM	5:00 PM	4:00 PM

For Gulf viewers the Season 12 pkl match timings landed kindly: an 8:00 PM IST start is early evening in Riyadh and Dubai, and even the third match of a triple header began at 7:00 PM in Saudi Arabia and 8:00 PM in the UAE. Pakistan’s half-hour gap makes its timings nearly mirror India’s. UK fans get afternoon kabaddi — the first match in the middle of the afternoon, the last one finishing around the evening — with the exact clock depending on whether Britain is on summer time or GMT when the season runs. These conversions follow standard time offsets; always check a specific fixture once the official list is published, because the fixture list, not the pattern, is final.

How a Match Night Runs

A Season 12 match night at a caravan venue was a single sitting for the crowd in the arena and a single block for viewers at home. The teams for the later matches warm up while the earlier match finishes, the mat is reset, and the next first raid follows within minutes. That rhythm is why the second match of a double header is listed at 9:00 PM and the third at 9:30 PM on triple-header nights rather than a full hour later: the turnaround between matches at the same venue is short, and the published times are typical starts rather than guarantees.

Playoff nights followed the same evening pattern through the Season 12 postseason, which is recorded on the PKL Points Table page alongside the final standings, and the season’s dates are tracked on the PKL Schedule homepage.

For fans planning around the pkl match timings, the useful habit is to work backwards from the first raid. The toss and team introductions run in the minutes immediately before the start, so an 8:00 PM fixture means the broadcast and the arena programme are already moving by about 7:45 PM IST. A double header is a commitment of roughly two hours from first raid to last; a triple header runs longer still, past 11:00 PM IST by the time the third match closes. Viewers in the Gulf and the UK get the friendlier end of that arithmetic in the evening and afternoon respectively, while Indian viewers get the late finish on the biggest nights of the leg.

Season 13 Timings: To Be Announced

No Season 13 start time is confirmed. The season is reported to start in late December 2026, and the fixture list — with dates, venues, and start times — is To Be Announced by the league. If Season 13 keeps the Season 12 pattern, evenings will again run from an 8:00 PM IST first match, but that is a pattern to watch for, not a published fact. This page will carry the confirmed Season 13 timings for every time zone in the table above as soon as the league announces them. For the official record, see the official Pro Kabaddi League site.

PKL Match Timings — Frequently Asked Questions