IPL 2025 Schedule: New Season To Begin Early, Report Says First Match On...

The next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will kickstart from March 14 next year, with the title clash set for May 25, reported ESPNCricinfo on Friday. In a never-seen-before move, the dates for the next three seasons have been released. The 2026 season will be played from March 15 to May 31, while the 2027 season will be played between March 14 to May 30. In an email to the franchise on Thursday, which was accessed by ESPNCricinfo, the IPL termed these tournament dates as windows, but they are likely to end up being the final dates as well. The 2025 season will feature 74 matches, just like it has been since the past three editions.

The number of matches is 10 less than the 84 listed by IPL in 2022 when media rights were sold for the 2023-27 cycle. In the tender document for the new rights cycle, IPL had listed a varying number of matches for each season, with 74 games for 2023 and 2024, 84 for 2025 and 2026 and 94 games maximum in 2027.

In a major boost to teams, overseas players of major Test-playing nations have been given a nod from their boards to feature in next three seasons of the IPL, except for Pakistan, whose players have not featured in the IPL since the inaugural season back in 2008 due to political tensions between both nations.

Here is the country-wise availability of overseas players for the next three IPL seasons as per the email:

Australia: Cricket Australia (CA) has given clearance for featuring in IPL to all its major international and domestic stars from next year. In 2026, Australia will be playing a three-match ODI series against Pakistan "concluding no later than March 18". Players playing that series and the ones resting after the T20 World Cup scheduled for February-March 2026 will be