IPL 2025 to begin on March 23, Rajeev Shukla confirms dates after BCCI's Special General Meeting

The 18th edition of the Indian Premier League will begin on March 23 and the final will be played on May 25, confirmed the BCCI's Vice President Rajeev Shukla after the Special General Meeting in Mumbai on Sunday.

The IPL 2025 is set to begin on March 23 and the final will be played on May 25, according to BCCI's vice president and IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla. Speaking to reporters after the BCCI's Special General Meeting in Mumbai, Shukla confirmed the dates for the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League.

At the SGM meeting, Devajit Saikia and Prabhtej Singh Bhat were elected unopposed as BCCI's new Secretary and Treasurer respectively. It was the only agenda of the meeting on Sunday but Shukla also revealed that the BCCI is close to finalise the venues for the Women's Premier League 2025.

"There was single point agenda for the election of treasurer and secretary post," Shukla said. "So nothing else was discussed at the SGM. The WPL venues have been almost finalised and will be declared soon."

When asked about India's highly-anticipated squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Shukla confirmed that the BCCI's selection committee will meet on January 18 or January 19 to decide the team. The BCCI announced the squad for the T20I series against England on January 11 and is expected to unveil the same team for the England ODIs and Champions Trophy on January 19. 

India's Champions Trophy campaign will begin against Bangladesh on February 19. India will also face Pakistan and New Zealand in their group stages games which will be played in Dubai. Pakistan will host the remaining games after agreeing to ICC's proposal to a hybrid model where India will play all of their games, including the potential final, at a neutral venue.

Meanwhile, India are likely to be without their star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah in the group stages of the Champions Trophy. Bumrah suffered a back spasm during the fifth Test match against Australia in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy and is unlikely to recover before the knockout matches.