IPL 2025 Expectation Live: Full IPL Schedule, Venue, Teams & Players list

he cash-rich Indian Premier League is slated to begin on 22 ^nd March with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the champions of the previous edition of the tournament, playing against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The opening match is preceded by an extravagant opening ceremony, as per the usual tradition. This will be first edition after the mega auctions and teams looking considerably different from the previous year. 

There are lots of speculations and analysis on which team has the potential to win the tournament, which team looks the strongest on paper, which team can deliver despite looking weak and so on. The 2-month long competition is once again expected to catch the attention of the entire cricketing world.

Meanwhile, the BCCI on Thursday lifted the ban on use of saliva on the ball in the upcoming Indian Premier League after majority of captains agreed to its proposal. The decision was taken at the captains’ meeting in Mumbai. “The saliva ban has been lifted. Majority of captains were in favour of the move,” a top BCCI official told PTI. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had banned the age-old practice of applying saliva to shine the ball as a precautionary measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2022, the world body made the ban permanent. The IPL too included the ICC ban in its playing conditions in the aftermath of the pandemic but its guidelines are outside the purview of the sport’s governing body. With the development on Thursday, the IPL becomes the first major cricketing event to re-introduce saliva’s use after the COVID-19 pandemic.