The 18th edition of the highly-anticipated Indian Premier League will get underway on 22nd March, 2025, at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The first game of IPL 2025 season will be played between the defending champions, the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The match will be preceded by an opening ceremony, which is likely to be attended by renowned personalities from the world of Bollywood, but their names have not been confirmed.
7 facts you need to know about IPL 2025: Opening ceremony, teams, captains, venues, streaming details and more
A total of 10 teams will take part in the IPL 2025 - The Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the Gujarat Titans (GT), the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the Mumbai Indians (MI), the Punjab Kings (PBKS), the Delhi Capitals (DC), and the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
CSK will be captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad, while RCB will be led by new skipper Rajat Patidar. LSG will have Rishabh Pant at the helm, GT will be under Shubman Gill’s leadership, and KKR will be led by Ajinkya Rahane. Pat Cummins will continue to captain SRH, Hardik Pandya will lead MI, and PBKS will be under Shreyas Iyer. Meanwhile, DC will be captained by Axar Patel, and RR by Sanju Samson.
The IPL 2025 opening ceremony is set to take place on March 22 at Eden Gardens from 6 PM. According to Hindustan Times, KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan is expected to attend the event along with Salman Khan. The report also suggests that Vicky Kaushal, Shraddha Kapoor, and American pop band OneRepublic could perform at the event, though no official confirmation has been made yet. According to The Hindu, Varun Dhawan and Arijit Singh are also likely to perform at the opening ceremony.
Matches will be held across 13 cities in India - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamshala, Jaipur, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mullanpur, Visakhapatnam and Mumbai. The opening match between KKR and RCB will be played right after the opening ceremony on March 22 at the Eden Gardens. The Qualifier 1 and the Eliminator will be hosted at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on May 20 and 21. Qualifier 2 and the final will then take place in Kolkata on May 23 and 25.
Each team will play a total of 14 league matches - seven at home and seven away. Out of these, they will face five teams twice, while the remaining four teams will be played only once - two at home and two away. The tournament will feature a total of 74 matches, including 70 league games, three playoff matches, and the final.
The complete IPL 2025 schedule was released last month. So far, only one fixture is facing uncertainty. According to a Times of India report, the KKR vs LSG match, scheduled for April 6 at Eden Gardens, might be rescheduled since Kolkata police have denied security clearance due to Ram Navami festivities.
Star Sports Network will telecast IPL 2025 matches in India while the live digital streaming will be available on JioHotstar. All matches will begin at 7.30 PM IST.
