IPL 2025, WPL 2025 start dates finally revealed, CT 2025 causes major delay in men's league

Cricket fans are all set for an entertainment-packed season, as the next three months promise non-stop entertainment. With the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 from February 19, followed by the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season in March-May, it’s a dream season for fans across the world.

Well, the schedule for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 has already been revealed, and now the announcement of the 2025 IPL’s start date has sparked excitement among fans. An ESPNCricinfo report revealed that the IPL 2025 is set to begin on March 21, with the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata hosting both the tournament opener and the final on May 25, 2025.

The start date of the IPL 2025 and WPL 2025 revealed

Additionally, the report revealed that the Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL 2025) will take place from February 7 to March 2. Before the IPL 2025 mega auction in November, the BCCI had shared the tournament windows for the next three seasons (2025-2027) with the franchises.

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And according to the tournament window, the planned window for the IPL 2025 season was March 15 to May 25. However, with the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final scheduled for March 9, the BCCI and the IPL decided to delay the start of the upcoming season by two weeks to give some break to the international stars between the two competitions.

Meanwhile, Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, which is the home ground of defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), will also host Qualifier 2. The first two playoff matches of the upcoming IPL 2025—Qualifier 1 and Eliminator—will take place in Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

No increase in the number of matches for this season

Notably, the defending champions' home ground will host both the opening match and the final of the IPL. However, Eden Gardens got the golden opportunity to host three playoff matches in the upcoming season. The complete IPL 2025 schedule is likely to be released later this month.

Well, the upcoming IPL season will feature 74 matches, the same as the previous three seasons. This is 10 matches fewer than the 84 matches originally proposed for 2025 in the IPL’s 2023-27 media rights tender.

It is being said that the Indian Premier League plans to expand the number of matches in 2026 and 2027, with up to 94 games in the final year of the media rights cycle.

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Mumbai, Bengaluru, Baroda, and Lucknow to host WPL 2025 matches

On the other hand, the BCCI has expanded the list of venues for the upcoming Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL 2025). In addition to Mumbai and Bengaluru, Baroda and Lucknow will also host the WPL games this season.

However, it is unclear how many matches each venue would get, as the schedule for the upcoming Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL 2025) has not yet been announced by the BCCI.

Earlier, Devajit Saikia was named the new secretary of the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI), replacing Jay Shah. The former Assam cricketer took over as the BCCI secretary—this position was vacant for a little over one month after Jay Shah took over as the chairman of the International Cricket Council.