Courtesy: BCCI/IPL
The highly anticipated opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 is reportedly set to be played between defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Saturday, March 22, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. While the BCCI and the IPL governing council haven’t officially revealed the full schedule of the IPL 2025, it is understood that they have shared the dates of the key games of the tournament to the all franchises.
Notably, the opening match of the 18th edition of the IPL, wherein KKR will take on RCB, is part of the normal practice of the tournament to award the season opener to the defending champions at their home ground, as per the report from Cricbuzz. Furthermore, after getting the honour of hosting the first game of the new IPL season, Eden Gardens in Kolkata will also get to have the final of the 2025 edition, which is expected to go down on Sunday, May 25.
SRH to play RR in their IPL 2025 opener in Hyderabad
Apart from this, runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad are expected to begin their IPL 2025 campaign in a home game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday afternoon, March 23. Over the past few days, there was speculation in the media and the world of social media around the BCCI and the IPL governing council announcing the full schedule, but as of this writing, they haven’t released it officially.
In the same report, it is mentioned that there will be 12 venues hosting IPL matches for the upcoming 2025 season, in cities namely Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Mullanpur, Delhi, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Dharamsala. The cities of Guwahati and Dharamsala are the second venues for Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings respectively, and they could get at least two matches each to host in the tournament.
