IPL 2025: How to watch in UAE; new captains, line-ups, all you need to know

Indian cricket fans are still recovering from the high of the Champions Trophy triumph in Dubai more than a fortnight ago. Captain Rohit Sharma and his men slipped into the iconic white jacket under a pitch dark sky, lit up by pyrotechnics, after decoding 'Black Caps' New Zealand.

The 50-over format event, which navigated the rough Arabian Sea between Pakistan and the UAE, may have been a touch long drawn, especially because of the format.

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Now, the Indian Premier League (IPL) — the richest and most watched T20 franchise league in the world — is just around the corner.

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From Saturday, March 22, fans in India and around the world, will be donning their favourite team's jerseys, rooting for them, and bragging about their team till close to the end of May.

Having said that, that ever-important question is back and lurking round the corner yet again: will Virat Kohli, one of the greatest batsmen ever, lay his hands on the title which has proven elusive so far?

Time will tell. Nonetheless, this season should be an intriguing affair. After the IPL mega auction was held in Saudi Arabia last November, it is now time to play ball.

Here's a lowdown on the new season:

When will IPL take place?

This season will begin on Saturday, March 22 and will run until Sunday, May 25.

How many teams are there?

There are 10 teams in the league.

1. Chennai Super Kings

2. Mumbai Indians

3. Kolkata Knight Riders

4. Gujarat Titans

5. Sunrisers Hyderabad

6. Rajasthan Royals

7. Royal Challengers Bengaluru

8. Delhi Capitals

9. Lucknow Super Giants

10. Punjab Kings

How many matches are there?

There will be 74 matches this season and will include 12 double-headers (two games in a day).

Where will the matches be played?

It will be played across 13 venues in India.

Ahmedabad: Narendra Modi Stadium (home of Gujarat Titans) Capacity: 132,000

Bengaluru: M Chinnaswamy Stadium (home of Royal Challengers Bengaluru) Capacity: 35,000

Chennai: MA Chidambaram Stadium (home of Chennai Super Kings) Capacity: 39,000

Delhi: Arun Jaitley Stadium (home of Delhi Capitals) Capacity: 35,200

Dharmsala: HPCA Cricket Stadium (home of Punjab Kings) Capacity: 21,200

Guwahati: Barsapara Cricket Stadium (home of Rajasthan Royals) Capacity: 46,000

Hyderabad: Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (home of Sunrisers Hyderabad) Capacity: 55,000

Jaipur: Sawai Mansingh Stadium (home of Rajasthan Royals) Capacity: 25,000

Kolkata: Eden Gardens(home of Kolkata Knight Riders) Capacity: 68,000

Lucknow: Ekana Cricket Stadium (home of Lucknow Super Giants) Capacity: 50,000

Mullanpur: Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium (home of Punjab Kings) Capacity: 38,000

Mumbai: Wankhede Stadium (home of Mumbai Indians) Capacity: 33,108

Vishakhapatnam: ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium (home of Delhi Capitals) Capacity: 27,500

What time are the matches (UAE-time)?

The evening games will start at 6pm UAE-time while the afternoon matches will begin at 2pm.

Who plays against whom in the opening game?

Defending champions the Kolkata Knight Riders will square off against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday, March 22 at the majestic Eden Gardens.

When is the final?

The final is on Sunday, May 25 and will also be played out at the Eden Gardens.

How can you watch matches in the UAE?

You can watch all the live action every day on CricLife Max as well as STARZPLAY app. Also, e-commerce platform noon is streaming the matches.

How do the teams stack up?

Kolkata Knight Riders

Captain: Ajinkya Rahane

Coach: Chandrakant Pandit

Titles: 3 (2012, 2014, 2024)

Last year's finish: Champions

Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock, Andre Russell, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Chetan Sakariya

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Captain: Pat Cummins

Coach: Daniel Vettori

Titles: 1 (2016)

Last year's finish: Runners-up

Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klassen, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Kamindu Mendis, Abhinav Manohar, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Atharva Taide, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Aniket Verma, Eshan Malinga, Sachin Baby, Mohammad Shami, Wiaan Mulder

Rajasthan Royals

Captain: Sanju Samson

Coach: Kumar Sangakkara

Titles: 1 (2008)

Last year's finish: 3rd

Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Nitish Rana, Wainindu Hasaranga, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yudhvir Charak, Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Fazal Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Kunal Rathore, Ashok Sharma

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Captain: Rajat Patidar

Coach: Andy Flower

Titles: 0

Last year's finish: 4th

Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Jacob Bethel, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee

Chennai Super Kings

Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad

Coach: Stephen Fleming

Titles: 5 (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023)

Last year's finish: 5th

Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Andre Siddarth, Ravichandran Ashwin, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Sam Curran, Shaik Rashid, Matheesha Pathirana, Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishnan Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi

Delhi Capitals

Captain: Axar Patel

Coach: Hemang Badani

Titles:  0

Last year's finish: 6th

Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Karun Nair, Abhishek Porel, Tristian Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natrajan, Mitchell Starc, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam, Dushmanta Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari

Lucknow Super Giants

Captain: Rishabh Pant

Coach: Justin Langer

Titles: 0

Last year's finish: 7th

Rishabh Pant, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shamar Joseph, Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bisnoi, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Matthew Breetzke, Aryan Juyal, Akash Deep, Himmat Singh, M Siddharth, Digvesh Singh

Gujarat Titans

Captain: Shubman Gill

Coach: Ashish Nehra

Titles: 1 (2022)

Last year's finish: 8th

Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler, Sai Sudharshan, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Mahipal Lomror, Anuj Rawat, Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Rashid Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Kumar Kushagra, Gerald Coetzee, Mohmmad Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Sherfane Rutherford, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya

Punjab Kings

Captain: Shreyas Iyer

Coach: Ricky Ponting

Titles: 0

Last year's finish: 9th

Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Prabhsimran Singh, Musheer Khan, Nehal Wadhera, Yash Thakur, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Harnoor Pannu, Kuldeep Sen, Priyansh Arya, Aaron Hardie, Suryansh Shedge, Xavier Bartlett, Pyla Avinash, Pravin Dubey, Harpreet Brar, Vijaykumar Vyshak

Mumbai Indians

Captain: Hardik Pandya

Coach: Mahela Jayawardene

Titles: 5 (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)

Last year's finish: 10th

Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Verma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ryan Rickelton, Will Jacks, Naman Dhir, Bevon Jacobs, Robin Minz, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Shrijith Krishnan, Raj Angad Bawa, VS Raju, Arjun Tendulkar, Vignesh Puthhur, Karn Sharma, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Corbin Bosch

 Stats attack

Leading run-getter

Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru)

• Matches: 252

• Runs: 8004

• Highest score: 113

• 100s: 8

• 50s: 55

• 4s: 705

• 6s: 272

Leading wicket-taker

Yuzvendra Chahal (Rajasthan Royals)

• Matches: 160

• Wickets: 205

• Best figures: 5-40

• Overs: 585

2024 Leading run scorer

Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru)

• Matches: 15

• Runs: 741

• Highest score: 113 not out

• 100s: 1

• 50s: 5

• 4s: 62

• 6s: 38

2024 Leading wicket taker

Hashal Patel (Punjab Kings)

• Matches: 14

• Wickets: 24

• Best figures: 3-15

• Overs: 49