When does IPL 2025 start and when is the final?
IPL 2025 will start on March 22 when defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Eden Gardens. Qualifier 1 and the Eliminator will be played in Hyderabad on May 20 and 21, respectively. Qualifier 2, on May 23, and the final, on May 25, will be in Kolkata. In all, 74 matches will be played across 13 cities over two months. Here is the full schedule.
Thirteen cities? This means some teams have more than one home venue, right?
Yes, just like in 2024, Delhi Capitals will play their home matches in Delhi and Visakhapatnam, Punjab Kings in Mullanpur and Dharamsala, and Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur and Guwahati. The remaining seven teams have only one home base each.
So no changes in format?
Correct. The ten teams have been divided into two virtual groups.
Group A: Chennai Super Kings, KKR, RR, RCB and PBKS
Group B: MI, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans, DC and Lucknow Super Giants
Each team will play the other teams in their group twice. They will also play one team from the other group twice - that's determined by seeding - and the other four teams once. Eventually, every team will have played 14 matches, seven at home and seven away. After that, the top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
What are the match timings?
All evening games will start at 7.30pm IST. The afternoon games - there are 12 double-headers - will begin at 3.30pm IST.
Is there anything new in IPL 2025?
A lot, actually. To start with, as many as five teams have new captains. Shreyas Iyer, who led KKR to the title in 2024, will captain Punjab Kings this time. Ajinkya Rahane has replaced him in that role at KKR. Rishabh Pant was released by DC before the mega auction. He is now with LSG as their captain. DC, meanwhile, have handed over the reins to Axar Patel. Rajat Patidar, who is yet to play a T20I for India, will lead RCB.
A couple of franchises have to cope with a temporary switch of leadership. Hardik Pandya will be unavailable for MI's first game, against CSK, as he will be serving out an over-rate related ban from the last season. Suryakumar Yadav, India's T20I captain, will lead MI in his place. Similarly, Sanju Samson will play RR's first three games as a batter due to a finger injury he sustained in February. Riyan Parag has been handed the armband.
Among other major changes, KL Rahul has moved to DC, Yuzvendra Chahal to PBKS, R Ashwin to Chennai Super Kings and Mohammed Siraj to Gujarat Titans. You can learn more about those changes here.
What about the support staff?
They, too, have undergone an overhaul. Ricky Ponting, who was DC's head coach till last season, will don the same hat at PBKS. Hemang Badani has replaced him at DC. DC have also brought in Kevin Pietersen as mentor.
Rahul Dravid, who coached India to the T20 World Cup title last year, is now the head coach of RR. Dwayne Bravo has replaced Gautam Gambhir as KKR's mentor. Matthew Wade, who was with GT as a player till 2024, is now their assistant coach. Check our IPL Newsfile for all other changes.
Who are the most expensive players at IPL 2025?
Pant is the most expensive player; LSG signed him for INR 27 crore (USD 3.21 million approx.) at the mega auction. Shreyas Iyer is not too far behind, signed by PBKS for INR 26.75 crore (USD 3.18 million approx.). KKR's Venkatesh Iyer is third on the list at INR 23.75 crore (USD 2.83 million approx.). He is followed by Henrich Klaasen, who was retained by SRH for INR 23 crore (USD 2.74 million approx.). You can check which player was signed for how much and by whom here.
How could CSK retain MS Dhoni for just INR 4 crore (USD 0.48 million approx.)?
Because the IPL brought back an old rule under which an Indian player can be retained as an uncapped player if his last international match was more than five years ago. Since Dhoni last played for India at the 2019 ODI World Cup, he qualified under this rule. RR also retained Sandeep Sharma under this rule.
Any other new rules?
Fielding teams during the second innings of an evening game can now get the ball changed once anytime after the tenth over*. This rule has been brought in to counter dew. In another good news for the bowlers, the ban on the use of saliva to shine the ball has also been revoked. Apart from that, Hawk-Eye will be used to judge off-side and head-high wides, in addition to waist-high no-balls.
Are any big names missing from action?
Jasprit Bumrah will miss the first few games for Mumbai Indians as he continues to recover from a back injury. Injuries have also ruled out AM Ghazanfar and Lizaad Williams for MI. Mujeeb Ur Rahaman and Corbin Bosch have replaced them.
At LSG, Mayank Yadav is set to miss the first half of the season with a back injury, while Harry Brook has pulled out amid speculation about England's white-ball captaincy. As per the IPL rules, Brook cannot participate in the next two seasons either. Mitchell Marsh, who missed the Champions Trophy with a back injury, has been cleared for LSG as a specialist batter.
A toe injury has ruled out Brydon Carse for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He has been replaced by Wiaan Mulder.
Where can I watch IPL 2025 live?
Australia: Foxtel and Kayo Sports
England: Sky Sports
India: Star Sports and JioHotstar
New Zealand: Sky Sports
South Africa: SuperSport
UAE: Starz On
USA: Willow TV
And will this be Dhoni's last IPL?
Shhh…
*1600 GMT, March 21, 2025 Updated after the confirmation of this rule