The Indian Premier League (IPL) has evolved significantly since its inception in 2008, becoming one of cricket’s most prestigious and valuable sporting events.
The 2025 season marks the 18th edition of this professional Twenty20 cricket league, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The 2025 IPL season runs from March 21 to May 25, featuring ten teams competing across various Indian cities.
The tournament maintains its format with 74 matches, though this number is notably less than the originally planned 84 matches for this season.
Teams are divided into two groups, with each team playing 14 matches during the league stage.
The Teams
The ten competing franchises are:
Group A
- Mumbai Indians
- Kolkata Knight Riders
- Rajasthan Royals
- Delhi Capitals
- Lucknow Super Giants
Group B
- Sunrisers Hyderabad
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru
- Punjab Kings
- Gujarat Titans
- Chennai Super Kings
The 2025 season’s timing has been carefully planned to accommodate international cricket.
The tournament’s start date was adjusted to March 21 to maintain a two-week gap from the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy final.
This scheduling demonstrates the league’s growing influence in the global cricket calendar while ensuring player availability and maintaining competitive integrity.
How Does IPL Work?
The ten teams are split into two groups of five. Each team will play 14 games in the group stage: they will face the other four teams in their group twice, each time at home and away.
They will also face four teams from the other group once and one team from the other group twice.
The tournament is known for its glitz, glamour, and entertainment. The league attracts some of the best cricketing talents from around the world and has a large following, both in India and abroad.
The 2025 season features an impressive roster of international talent, following a mega auction that included 577 players, with 210 overseas participants.
Teams can field up to four foreign players in their playing eleven, ensuring a balance between international star power and domestic talent development.
Where To Watch The Games?
In June 2022, the broadcasting rights for the league from 2023 to 2027 were sold at a remarkable US$6.1 billion.
This cemented IPL’s spot as the second most expensive tournament in the world after NFL and above the English Premier League.
For UK viewers, the 2025 broadcasting rights are exclusively held by Sky Sports through a four-year deal running until 2027.
Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event will broadcast all 74 matches of the IPL 2025 season. Subscribers can access the full tournament through their regular Sky Sports package, which starts from £22 per month.
The comprehensive coverage ensures UK cricket fans won’t miss any of the action from the world’s premier T20 cricket league, from the opening match through to the final.
In the United States, the games are streamed on ESPN+, Sky Sports, and Viacom18 bagged the rights for the UK, Australia-NZ and South Africa while Times Internet grabbed the rights for the Middle East & North Africa.
Betting On The IPL
The 2025 season has attracted significant betting interest, with Mumbai Indians emerging as favourites to secure their sixth title.
Major bookmakers, and websites like 10CRIC offer a great IPL betting experience, extensive market coverage, including match betting, tournament winners, top run-scorers, and wicket-takers.
Popular betting options include bet builders, which allow combining multiple selections into one wager, and in-play markets for live match betting.
The tournament winner odds currently show Mumbai Indians as frontrunners, followed by Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals.
Betting markets also cover individual player performances, method of dismissals, and team totals, providing diverse wagering opportunities throughout the tournament.
What Are IPL Awards?
At the end of each season, awards are given out to recognise individual performances and team performances over the course of the tournament.
The various awards are as follows:
Purple Cap
The IPL Purple Cap, currently known as the Aramco Purple Cap for sponsorship reasons, is presented to the leading wicket-taker in IPL.
In 2008, the IPL introduced two special caps. The Orange Cap was for the batsman with the most runs, and the Purple Cap was for the bowler with the most wickets.
Whoever has those stats will wear those caps while they are playing.
Orange Cap
The Orange Cap, currently known as the Aramco Orange Cap for sponsorship reasons, is presented to the leading run scorer in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Most Valuable Player Award
This award recognises the player who made the most valuable impact on the IPL tournament based on the following points system: 4 hits are worth 2.5 points.
6 hits and wickets taken are worth 3.5 points each. Every dot ball bowled gets 1 point.
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Catches and stumpings get 2.5 points each. This award is called Upstox Most Valuable Player because of sponsorship.
Fair Play Award
This award recognises the team that exhibits the highest level of fair play throughout the season.
After each match, the three umpires rate both teams on how they played. Each team can get up to 10 points.
4 points are based on how well they followed the “spirit of the game”.
Best Emerging Player Award
The Emerging Player of the Year award has been given out since 2014.
To be eligible for this award, you must have played less than 5 Tests, 20 One Day Internationals (ODI), and 25 IPL matches at the start of the season.
You can only win this award once.
Maximum Sixes Award
The Maximum Sixes Award is given to the player who hits the most sixes in a season of the IPL.
The IPL is the second most valuable tournament in the world after NFL, and its popularity continues to grow each year.
IPL continues to provide an exciting and entertaining experience for cricket fans around the world.
