BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla has made a big announcement after the Special General Meeting in Mumbai. IPL 2025 will begin on March 23, following the same schedule pattern as previous editions. However, as per news reports, IPL will start on March 21 and not March 23 as Shukla made a mistake in the announcement. The IPL 2025 Final will likely be played on May 25, Sunday in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, giving BCCI a 66-day window for the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League.
What is IPL start date?
Even though Rajeev Shukla said the IPL 2025 would start on March 23, it will likely start on March 21 since it falls on a Friday due to broadcaster demands. With Friday as the start date, IPL could have two doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday to kick start the tournament.
However, the catch is the ICC Champions Trophy. The CT 2025 final is on March 9. If the IPL starts on March 21, it will allow them at least a 10-day break before joining their respective franchises.
No clarity on WPL start date
There is also the case of WPL 2025. Even though the Women’s Premier League will be played in a caravan format, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Mumbai and Vadodara are frontrunners to host the tournament. However, two of those venues will host IPL matches.
Despite announcing the IPL start date, the BCCI VP did not offer any clarity on the WPL 2025 start date. Shukla announced that the WPL schedule will be announced in due course.
Earlier, it was reported that WPL would start in early February, most likely on Feb 7 with the final on March 2. If the WPL ends on March 2, it will help the state associations some time to prepare pitches for IPL.
State associations need at least a month to prepare pitches for IPL. In that case, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants may play home matches only in mid-April.
