Hyderabad: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the schedule for the 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the season is all set to kick off on March 22. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru(RCB) are set to square off in the opening fixture of the tournament at the Eden Gardens. The IPL final will be played on May 25 at Eden Gardens. A total of 74 fixtures will be played in the tournament. Qualifier 1 on 20 May and Eliminator will be hosted at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on May 21. Qualifier 2 will be played at the Eden Gardens on May 23.
The second match of the season will be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) on March 23. In the third match of the competition, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will square off against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Both matches will be played on 23rd March as it will be a double header on Sunday. The tournament will witness 12 double headers during the span of 74 matches.
Mark your calendars, folks! 🥳🗓#TATAIPL 2025 kicks off on March 2️⃣2️⃣ with a clash between @KKRiders and @RCBTweets 🤜🤛
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) February 16, 2025
When is your favourite team's first match? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/f2tf3YcSyY
KKR, RCB, RR, CSK and Punjab Kings are in Group A while Gujarat Titans (GT), SRH, MI, Delhi Capitals (DC) and Lucknow Super Giants are in Group B.
The cash-rich league is set to start 12 days after the conclusion of the Champions Trophy final on March 9. The tournament will be played at 13 venues which include ten traditional homes of the franchises as well as Guwahati (second venue for RR), Dharamsala (second venue for Punjab Kings) and Vizag (second venue for Delhi Capitals). The eight teams are divided into two groups.
Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians both have won the title on five occasions while defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders have won the title in three editions.
The teams will be entering the tournament with a revamped roster after the IPL mega auction 2025. Rishabh Pant was the most expensive pick at the value of ₹27 Crores as he was bought by Lucknow Super Giants at the auction table. Shreyas Iyer (26.75 Crore rupees) and Venkatesh Iyer (23.75 Crore rupees) were the other expensive picks at the auction table.
