BCCI announces dates for IPL 2025, 2026 and 2027 all at once in never-before-heard move

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will be getting underway on March 14 and the final is slated to be played on May 25. The dates for the next three seasons has been confirmed as the IPL governing council sent an official communication to all the ten franchises. The 2026 season will be played between March 15 and May 31 while the 2027 edition will go ahead between March 14 and May 30. Pat Cummins and Shreyas Iyer (IPL)

The IPL governing council has termed these tournament dates as windows, but it is likely that these will end up as the final dates for the tournament.

The 2025 season will have a total of 74 matches, the same as the last three seasons. However, this number is ten matches less than the 84 listed by IPL in 2022 when the media rights for the 2023-27 cycle were sold.

As per ESPNcricinfo, the overseas players from most full-member countries have also received the nod from their individual cricket boards to play for the next three years in the IPL.

Cricket Australia has given clearance to all its international and domestic players to feature in IPL 2025. However, in 2026, Australia are slated to play a three-match ODI series in Pakistan, which Cricket Australia revealed will be "concluding no later than March 18."

Australian players will join IPL 2026 after the series against Pakistan. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has also submitted a list of 18 centrally contracted players who will be available for the next three UPL seasons.

Players from South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, are also slated to be fully available for the next three seasons.

IPL auction in Jeddah

Ahead of the IPL 2025 edition, the mega auction will be going ahead in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25. The likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell, are all up for grabs.

A total of 574 players are set to be featured in the mega auction. Out of the 574 Players, 366 are Indian and 208 are overseas, including 3 players from associate nations.

The auction will include 318 Indian uncapped players and 12 uncapped overseas players.

204 slots will be up for grabs with 70 available slots for overseas players. INR 2 Crore is the highest reserve price with 81 players opting to be in the highest bracket.

The two-day Mega Auction will commence at 3 PM IST on November 24.

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