Rajiv Shukla Announces New Start Dates for IPL 2025 and WPL 2025

India's cricket season is approaching, with BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla announcing after the General Body meeting on Sunday that the 2025 editions of the Indian Premier League and Women’s Premier League will begin on March 23 and February 7, respectively.

On the 25th of May and March 2nd, the finals of either tournament are planned. Reports claim that IPL 2025 might commence on 14th March, but for some reason the BCCI has chosen a later date so that players could have some rest post ICC Champions Trophy which is ending on March 9.

WPL 2025: Venues

Shukla mentioned the possibility of the WPL 2025 being played at four venues: Mumbai, Bangalore, Baroda, and Lucknow. This has already ensured that four out of the five teams in the league will get full support from home crowds, while only two-time finalists, Delhi Capitals, will have to play all their matches away from the home venue. The final number of matches that will be played to each host is yet to be defined.

IPL 2025: Number of matches

The IPL 2025 season will feature 74 matches, maintaining the same format as the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Despite earlier reports suggesting that the 2025 and 2026 seasons would have 84 matches, and the 2027 season could see a massive 94 matches, the BCCI has decided not to increase the number of games. The board is opting to stick with the current format for at least one more season to avoid overburdening players.

IPL 2025: Schedule

BCCI will have its next General Body meeting on the 18th of January, where the schedules for IPL 2025 and WPL 2025 would be discussed. Usually, the schedules of the leagues are announced to the fans sometime by the end of January 2025.