IPL 2025 | What Can You Expect?

The schedule for the 18th season of IPL 2025 has been announced. The much-anticipated 'El Clásico' clash between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is set for March 23, 2025, at Chennai's Chidambaram Stadium, starting at 7.30 pm. The two rivals will meet again in Mumbai on April 20.

                                          CSK V/S MI

The opening match will feature an exciting showdown between defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on March 22 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. This season will feature 74 matches over 65 days, with over 70 league-stage games running until May 18, including 12 double-headers (two matches in a single day). The IPL 2025 final is scheduled for May 25 in Kolkata.

                                 KKR V/S RCB

Traditionally, the IPL opening match and final are held at the defending champion’s home ground, but this time, both matches will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Additionally, the final and Qualifier 2 will take place in Kolkata on May 25 and May 23, respectively. Meanwhile, the Qualifier 1 and Eliminator matches will be hosted at Sunrisers Hyderabad’s home ground, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, on May 20 and May 21, respectively.

                               Eden Garden Stadium 

The first double-header of IPL 2025 will feature Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) vs Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Hyderabad at 3.30 pm on March 30, followed by Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Mumbai at 7.30 pm on the same day. Another double-header is scheduled for March 30.

Two matches will be played on April 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, and 27. Double-headers will be held exclusively on Saturdays and Sundays, specifically on April 4, 11, and 18, 2025.

IPL 2025 will feature ten teams competing across 13 locations, including Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, and Dharamshala.

                                  IPL 2025 Schedule 

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a franchise-based cricket tournament that is played in March and May, in T20 format. It originally started in 2008 with 8 teams with  RCB bagging the title of winner of the first season against CSK. MI and CSK have won five titles respectively, while KKR has won three titles. 

Some Interesting Facts About IPL 2025: 

Chennai Super Kings (CSK), in collaboration with Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) and Metropolitan Transport Corporation, has announced free travel for fans holding IPL tickets. Fans can use a barcode or QR scanner on their IPL ticket to travel for free.

Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has recovered from his side strain injury and will join SRH for IPL 2025. Nitish has passed all the health tests at BCCI's Centre of Excellence, which includes the Yo-Yo test. He has scored 303 runs with 143 strike rate in 13 matches of IPL 2024, contributing greatly to the team. 

                    Nitish Kumar Reddy 

Axar Patel has been named as the captain of Delhi Capitals, the franchise had announced on March 14. KL Rahul was also among front-runners for the position, but Patel was eventually named captain. The 2025 season of IPL will commence from March 22. Previously, Axar Patel was part of Delhi Capitals since 2019 and is one of the most experienced players to feature in the tournament. He has played 82 matches across six seasons.

 

                                        Axar Patel 

Jasprit Bumrah suffered an abdominal injury in the final match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy tournament, which is why he could not partcipate in the Champions Trophy. Due to a long recovery process, Bumrah won't be playing in the initial IPL group stage matches. He is currently in rehab at BCCI's Centre of Excellence (COE). 

 

                           Jasprit Bumrah 

Bad news for KKR fans, as pace bowler Umran Malik will be out of this IPL season due to injury. Sakariya has been signed on as Malik's replacement, but KKR may face difficulty navigating this season due to this loss.

 

                                      Umran Malik 

With the increasing global popularity of IPL, Saudi Arabia has announced a new T20 league with an investment of $100,000 million from its sovereign wealth fund. The league will feature eight teams and is inspired by IPL, tennis and other sports tournaments.