CHENNAI: The playoffs and final of the 2025 Indian Premier League will happen in Mullanpur and Ahmedabad, the BCCI announced on Tuesday. The New PCA Stadium will host the Qualifier 1 and Eliminator on May 29 and 30, respectively, while Ahmedabad will host the Qualifier 2 and final (June 1 and 3). The decision, taken at the meeting on Tuesday, has largely to do with the weather patterns because of which the BCCI had held back on announcing the venues for the playoff games.
"Hyderabad and Kolkata were initially supposed to host the last four games before the one week suspension of the tournament. The new venues for the Playoffs were decided by the IPL Governing Council keeping in mind the weather conditions and other parameters," BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said in a statement.
This will be the third final in four years in Ahmedabad. Mullanpur and Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), meanwhile, will host the IPL playoff games for the very first time. PCA secretary Dilsher Khanna is pleased about the new stadium in Mullanpur getting the opportunity to host the matches. "Honoured that the board thought about us and we will give it our best and host a great show. We are happy to host and very very thankful to be given the opportunity," Khanna told this daily.
The New PCA Stadium, which was established in 2021 and has been hosting domestic matches since, was officially inaugurated on March 23, 2024 as the home venue for Punjab Kings. Since then, the stadium has hosted nine IPL league games as the home venue for PBKS.
While it is yet to host an international game, the open air venue has the clearance from both the BCCI and ICC for the same. Hosting the IPL playoffs will certainly boost the profile of the venue which is all set to host the second T20I between India and South Africa men on December 11, 2025. Although there is no official confirmation or intimation to the PCA so far, the stadium was also floated as one of the venues for the upcoming Women's ODI World Cup.
Khanna believes the opportunity to host the IPL playoff is very significant for the venue and Punjab cricket. "We have a great facility and we have a very modern stadium. We will ensure that everyone goes there is very happy," Khanna said.
RCB vs SRH in Lucknow
Among other things, the game between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad, which was supposed to be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on May 23, too, has been shifted to Lucknow because of the inclement weather in the southern part of the country. "Similar to the playoffs stage, an additional one hour will be allocated to the playing conditions for the remaining matches of the league stage, starting Tuesday, May 20," Saikia added.
Earlier, the game between RCB and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru was washed out without a ball being bowled due to rain on Saturday. Thousands of fans, who had turned up in whites as a tribute to Virat Kohli's Test retirement, will be disappointed as they will have to wait till next season for Kohli to walk out on to bat in Bengaluru again. After the SRH game, RCB will stay back in Lucknow and play the Lucknow Super Giants, their last league game, on May 27.
