With India and Pakistan having announced a ceasefire, the suspended Indian Premier League is expected to resume either on May 16 or 17, with the final tentatively set for May 30 or June 1.
The revised schedule will be confirmed for the remainder of the season with BCCI set to make the announcement any time Monday after getting the relevant inputs from the Indian government.
The board is also holding discussions with all the stakeholders including the franchises, state associations, broadcasters among others.
Per Indian Express, the BCCI is contemplating to host the remaining matches in the three venues — Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
The BCCI has already asked all the teams, except Punjab Kings, to report to their respective venues by Tuesday so that it can resume the IPL by Friday, the daily further reports. The BCCI also has informed the franchises to inform their foreign players about their travel plans.
IPL 2025 is currently 58 games old. There are 17 matches left to be played, which include 13 league matches, three playoffs and the final.
Barring Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, all franchises are still in playoffs contention.
A big challenge for the teams will be to convince their overseas stars who have already returned home with a report claiming that Cricket Australia will defend the rights of their players to skip the season should it resume and avoid future repercussions.
Currently, Gujarat Titans lead the race to qualify for the playoffs with 16 points and a net run-rate of 0.793. Royal Challengers Bengaluru also have 16 points but with a lower NRR of .482, they are second. Punjab Kings are third with 15 points while Mumbai Indians complete the top four with 14 points.
With some overseas players heading home, there are reports the IPL franchises won’t force their overseas recruits to return should they feel uncomfortable.
“We will not push anyone and will leave it to them. Yes, this is a force majeure, an unforeseen event which is beyond anyone’s control,” Revsportz quoted the CEO of an IPL franchise as having said.
Meanwhile, while the official announcement is still awaited on the revised IPL fixtures, former champions and current table-toppers Gujarat Titans have started training in Ahmedabad. As per reports, only two overseas players of GT – Jos Buttler and Gerald Coetzee – have left the country with the majority of the squad still together after IPL was suspended for a week. Most of their squad members are in Ahmedabad.
While the playoffs venues are expected to remain the same, the IPL 2025 final could be shifted out of Kolkata citing weather forecast. “As of now, there is no change in venues for the play-off stage, but it seems rain can affect the final in Kolkata. In that case, the final could be played in Ahmedabad,” PTI quoted a source as saying.
The newswire further reports that the season will resume with Lucknow Super Giants facing Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
