IPL 2025: KKR's home Eden Gardens to host opener, finale after a decade

It will be after a gap of a decade that the Eden Gardens will play a key role in IPL 2025 – thanks to them being the ‘home’ venue of reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders. Much in keeping with the IPL tradition, the historic venue will host both the tournament opener on March 22 and the final on May 25 as KKR are the reigning champions.

 KKR, which ended their title-drought in style in 2024, will begin their title-defence at home against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. This will be the first final in Kolkata in a decade with Eden Gardens having previously hosted the 2013 and 2015 title matches after KKR won the 2012 and 2014 titles, respectively. It will also host Qualifier 2 on May 23.

 The other two play-offs: Qualifier 1 on May 20 and the Eliminator on May 21 - will be played in Hyderabad, home of 2024 runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad, according to the fixtures released by the BCCI on Sunday. There is no change in the number of matches (74) spread over 65 days with 12 double headers. The afternoon games will begin at 3.30 pm IST while the evening games will begin from 7.30 pm.

The 10 teams will again be split into two groups with KKR, RCB, Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings in Group 1 and runners-up Sunrisers, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Titans, Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants in the other. Teams will meet the other teams in their group and one team in the other group - determined by seeding - twice and the other four teams in the opposite group once.

 CSK and Mumbai, for instance, will meet twice despite not being part of the same group. After their March 23 contest, these two teams will meet again on April 20 again on a Sunday evening with Mumbai hosting Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium.

  The first of the 12 double-headers day will take place on 23 March as SRH face Royals in an afternoon game in Hyderabad. This will be followed by a mouthwatering clash in the evening as the two five-time IPL champions – CSK and MI lock horns at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

 Three of the 10 IPL teams will play at two venues each. DC will play their home games in Visakhapatnam and at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Royals will play their two home games at Guwahati - where they host KKR and CSK – and play the remainder of the home games at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.  PBKS, meanwhile, will play their four home matches at the New PCA Stadium, New Chandigarh while the picturesque Dharamsala will host three home games of PBKS – against LSG, DC and MI – at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.

While several teams will be busy playing back-to-back matches with breaks of one or two days, no team will be on the road for three consecutive away matches.

Group 1: KKR, RCB, Rajasthan Royals, CSK, Punjab kings

Group 2: SRH, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Titans, MI, Lucknow Super Giants

• Teams to play other teams in same group and one team in the opposite group (in the same row) twice, and the other four teams in the opposite group once.