BCCI made this big change in the rules so that the fun of IPL 2025 is not spoiled by rain

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday released the schedule for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 playoffs, as per which the IPL 2025 final will be played on June 3 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Following 70 league-stage matches filled with energy, drama, thrill and entertainment, all attention is now on Mullanpur in New Chandigarh, where the much-anticipated Qualifier 1 between the two top teams will be played on Thursday, May 29, and an Eliminator game on Friday, May 30.

The thrill will be amplified as Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium, the largest stadium in the world, will now stage the nail-biting Qualifier 2 and Grand Final. The historic ground has already hosted the finals in 2022 and 2023.

Qualifier 2, played between the loser of Qualifier 1 and the winner of the Eliminator, will take place on Sunday, June 1. This will be followed by the much-awaited title clash, which will crown the winner of the 18th season of IPL, on Tuesday, June 3. Hyderabad and Kolkata were initially scheduled to host the final four matches before the tournament was suspended for a week.

The IPL Governing Council decided on the new venues for the playoffs keeping in mind the weather conditions and other parameters. IPL match no. 65 shifted from Bengaluru to Lucknow. IPL match no. 65 between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has been shifted to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow due to adverse weather conditions in Bengaluru.

In view of the unpredictable weather, the BCCI has also implemented a new rule. According to this, now like the playoffs, an extra hour will be allotted for the remaining matches of the league stage from Tuesday, May 20, according to the state of play. The BCCI has increased the extra time to complete the match from the current one hour to 120 minutes. Earlier, the extra time of 120 minutes was reserved only for the play-offs, not for league games.

In other words, if we understand it this way, the cut-off time for matches played from 7:30 pm was affected by rain, earlier it used to be 10:56 pm. But now it has been increased by one hour to 11:56 pm so that the match can be completed. This decision has been taken because some previous matches were washed out due to rain. This means that now if any match is cancelled due to rain, its official announcement will be made at 11:56 pm.

So far three teams have confirmed their place in the IPL playoffs. These teams are - Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings. Now there is a tough competition between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals for another playoff spot.