IPL 2025 fan guide: Playoff scenarios, key matches, Orange Cap race — everything you need to know before IPL returns
The IPL 2025 season is set to get back rolling after a brief pause in play, and it's everything to play for on multiple different fronts.
After nine days that have felt like an eternity since the IPL got suspended, midway through Punjab Kings’ game in Dharamsala against Delhi Capitals, the IPL is set to return. The promise of a frenzied and exciting season lies ahead, with a brief sprint to the finish line in the regular season, before the playoffs begin and bring with them all the thrill and nerves of elimination sports.
With Royal Challengers Bengaluru getting things rolling, once again against Kolkata Knight Riders just like in the first match of IPL 2025, here are some matches and key storylines in the season that fans must keep an eye out for.
How many games are left in the 2025 IPL season?
In total, there are 17 matches left to be played, the final on June 3. In the regular season, the number in only 13: most teams have three matches each left, while a couple are only left with two.
Playoff scenarios: GT and RCB in strong position, 17 the magic number
Currently, there are 5 teams who can reach 17 points in the IPL, and that is therefore the number that all teams will gun for. On 16, RCB and GT are one win away from eclipsing it, which means they will qualify. KKR and LSG are technically still alive, but they need results to go their way, and a single loss from here will eliminate both of them. The really interesting maths lies in the middle of the pack…
Key games in the playoff battle
Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, and Delhi Capitals have had vastly different seasons, but find themselves in similar situations — and it truly comes down to the wire, as the trio participate in a mini-series amongst themselves that will well and truly decide which way this season goes.
MI are currently third on 14 points, but only have two games left, both against their playoff rivals. They face DC on 21st May, and then Punjab on the 26th. DC, meanwhile, have an unappetising fixture list, starting off against table-toppers GT, finishing off with a match against Punjab in Jaipur on 24th May.
For each of these teams, the goal will be to win two of their remaining games to rest easy. Mark these dates in red: the playoffs will likely come down to this. It is going to go right down to the wire.
An Orange Cap race for the ages — and a chance for a Virat Kohli statement
10 runs separate the top five players in the Orange Cap race — has it ever been so tight between so many players, especially this late into the season? Anyone could win it, from the GT triumvirate of Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, and Jos Buttler, or the Indian T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, or last year’s Orange Cap winner and a man who no longer has a lot of cricket to look forward to in Virat Kohli. A chance for Kohli to continue to play his cricket on his own terms.
