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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has revealed the schedule for the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which will take place from March 22 to May 25. This means that the countdown to the 2025 IPL has officially begun. The reigning champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will square off in a thrilling match at Eden Gardens on March 22 to kick off the tournament. The two most successful teams in the tournament, the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will meet in Chennai just a day later.
CSK and MI to clash twice
On April 20, MI and CSK will square off again in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. The Hardik Pandya-led team will only play RCB and KKR once and does not have any away games planned against them. MI will play the Rajat Patidar-led team on April 7 after hosting KKR on March 30. However, in the league stage, CSK, KKR, and RCB will face off twice.
Why will Mumbai Indians only face KKR and RCB once?
To guarantee that there are only 74 matches in the tournament, the BCCI has so far chosen not to use a double round-robin system since the IPL grew to 10 clubs in 2022. Under the current system, each team plays five teams twice and four teams only once—two at home and two away. Each of the ten teams is split into two groups by the BCCI, and each team plays every other team in its group twice. Every franchise only gets to play the other four teams in the opposing group once.
RCB and CSK will rekindle their intense rivalry on March 28 and May 3, among other significant days in the 2025 IPL. On May 17, KKR and RCB will also play their final league stage encounter. Before Kolkata hosts the second qualifier and final on May 23 and 25, respectively, the first qualifier and eliminator will be held at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on May 20 and 21.
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