Chennai Super Kings will play marquee rivals Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru

twice each during the league phase of IPL 2025, the schedule for which was officially announced on

Sunday (February 16). The Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side will open their campaign at home against

fellow five-time winners Mumbai Indians in the late evening clash on the double-header second day

of the competition (March 23) before playing the return leg in Mumbai on April 20. MI captain Hardik

Pandya will miss the first of those fixtures after picking up a one-match ban after being found guilty

of overrate offences three times in the 2024 season.

CSK, who'll play four of their first six games at home, will host southern rivals RCB on March 28 in

their second game before making the trip to Bengaluru on May 3 for the return leg. The schedule has

been formulated after splitting the 10 teams into two groups - as has been the case since the IPL

expanded to 10 teams in 2022. As per the format, each team will meet the other teams in their

group and one team in the other group – determined by seeding – twice. They’ll face the other four

teams in the opposite group once to make up a total of 14 league games.

The tournament will begin on March 22 at the home of the holders, Kolkata Knight Riders, who will

host RCB. The Eden Gardens will also host the final on May 25 as well as Qualifier 2 on May 23. The

Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad will host Qualifier 1 on May 20 and the Eliminator

on May 21. Apart from the 10 regular centres – Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru,

Lucknow, Mullanpur, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Jaipur – this season’s matches will also be

played in Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Dharamsala too.

Guwahati will come into the IPL map straightaway with Rajasthan Royals, who have chosen the

North-East city as their second venue, playing there on March 26 and 30. Kolkata Knight Riders and

Chennai Super Kings will be the Royals' opponents in the two evening games at Guwahati. The

Capitals too will play their first two home games at Visakhapatnam, against Lucknow Super Giants

and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively. On the other hand, Dharamsala will host three of Punjab

Kings’ home games – one more than the last season – against LSG, DC and MI in the second half of

the league phase