The schedule for the league phase of the 2025 Indian Premier League was formally revealed on Sunday, February 16. The Chennai Super Kings will play their main rivals, the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, twice apiece.
Before playing the return leg in Mumbai on April 20, the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led team will begin their campaign at home against the Mumbai Indians, who have won five times, in a late-night match on the doubleheader second day of the league (March 23). After being found guilty of overrate offenses three times during the 2024 season, MI captain Hardik Pandya received a one-match suspension and will miss the first of those games.
Before traveling to Bengaluru for the return leg on May 3, CSK, who will play four of their first six games at home, will face southern rivals RCB on March 28 for their second encounter. As has been the case since the IPL’s expansion to 10 teams in 2022, the schedule was created after dividing the 10 teams into two groups.
As per the format, each team will meet the other teams in their group and one team in the other group – determined by seeding – twice. They’ll face the other four teams in the opposite group once to make up a total of 14 league games.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, the runners-up from the previous season, will play the Rajasthan Royals at home in the afternoon on March 23 to start the season. Following the first weekend, the Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans will play their home openers against the Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants, respectively.
In addition to the ten usual locations—Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Mullanpur, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Jaipur—total games this season will also be held in Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, and Dharamsala.
The Rajasthan Royals, who have selected the North-East city as their second venue, will immediately put Guwahati on the IPL map when they play there on March 26 and 30. The Royals’ opponents in the two evening games in Guwahati will be the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Capitals will also play Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Lucknow Super Giants in their opening two home games in Visakhapatnam. In contrast, Dharamsala will host three of Punjab Kings’ home games against LSG, DC, and MI in the second half of the league phase, which is one more than they did the previous season.
