IPL 2025 restart expected on May 16 or 17, final may be moved out of Kolkata

Following its suspension due to military tensions between India and Pakistan the Indian Premier League IPL 2025 is now expected to resume on either May 16 or 17 with indications that the final may be shifted away from KolkataThe ceasefire declared on Saturday has cleared the path for the tournamentrsquos continuation after it was paused on May 9 for a duration of one weekOn Sunday members of the IPL Governing Council along with BCCI officials convened to finalise the roadmap for the leaguersquos resumptionBCCI vicepresident Rajeev Shukla confirmed that the board is currently in the process of drafting a revised schedule that accommodates the new circumstancesAs of now there is no decision on IPL BCCI officials are working out on the solutions BCCI secretary IPL Chairman are in talks with franchises and everyone so very soon we will know about the decision efforts are being made to resume the tournament early Shukla told news agency PTIAn IPL source said the league will resume with the match between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Lucknow the game which was supposed to be played on May 9All the teams have been asked to call back their players the tournament will resume either on May 16 or 17 in Lucknow The final schedule will be shared tomorrow Monday a source told PTIMost likely the matches will be held at four venues and Delhi and Dharamsala wont get to host more matches All the equipment has already been removed from these venues added the sourceThe source also said that there wont be any change in the venue for Qualifier I and Eliminator that Hyderabad was supposed to host but Kolkata may miss out on hosting the final most likely on June 1 due to rain forecast on that day in the cityAs of now there is no change in venues for the playoff stage but it seems rain can affect the final in Kolkata In that case the final could be played in Ahmedabad said the sourceSpeaking to PTI BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia added In the next few days we will begin consultations with the franchises broadcasters sponsors and the state associations slated to host the remaining matches before crystallizating to a decision on the leagues resumptionGiven that the importance of IPL at this juncture it will also be prudent and necessary to take the nod of the Government of India before finalising the time for its restartIt is possible that both Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals will be awarded a point each after the match was abandoned midway through the first innings due to heightened tension between India and Pakistan with Punjab having had raced to 122 for 1 in 101 oversThe players were ferried in bus to Jalandhar in Punjab from where they travelled to Delhi by trainIf only four venues are chosen to host the remaining 16 games then Delhi Capitals Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians will miss out on their home gamesIt means the remainder of the tournament will be restricted to Hyderabad Chennai Kolkata Bengaluru and LucknowCSK RR and SRH are already out of the reckoning and the battle for sealing the four playoffs spots is among seven teamsGujarat Titans as of now are leading the table with 16 points and superior NRR of 0793 followed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru 16 points 0482 Punjab Kings 15 Mumbai Indians 14 Delhi Capitals 13 Kolkata Knight Riders 11 and Lucknow Super Giants 10With inputs from PTIatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params