The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season starts this Saturday with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) taking on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (KKR) at Eden Gardens. KKR will be heading into the tournament as the reigning champions. They defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2024 IPL final to win their third overall crown. The league stage of IPL 2025 will be held across 10 home venues. Additionally, three neutral venues have also been provided for specific games. The Qualifier 1 and Eliminator will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The finals and Qualifier 2 will be hosted in Kolkata. The upcoming IPL season’s matches will be played in cities including Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, New Chandigarh, Dharamsala, Guwahati and Visakhapatnam between March 22 and May 25. Sportstar recently reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were planning to host special ceremonies across all 13 venues this year. The objective is to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the franchise tournament. IPL 2025: Team Home Grounds Chennai Super Kings – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Delhi Capitals – Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi and Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam Gujarat Titans – Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Kolkata Knight Riders – Eden Gardens, Kolkata Lucknow Super Giants – Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow Mumbai Indians – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Punjab Kings – Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh and HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh Rajasthan Royals – Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur and Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati Royal Challengers Bengaluru – M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru Sunrisers Hyderabad – Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad IPL 2025: Format Each participating team will play 14 league matches this season. They will face the four teams in their group and the team from the same row in the second group in home and away fixtures. Each team will also play the remaining four teams of the other group once each. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the playoff stage. The top two teams will play the first qualifier in Hyderabad for a direct entry into the final. The third and fourth-placed teams will lock horns in the Eliminator a day later. The winner of that match will play the loser of the first qualification game in Qualifier 2. The winner of that fixture will have the opportunity to compete in the IPL 2025 final.