IPL 2025 | Ahmedabad to host final; RCB vs SRH shifted to Lucknow

Bengaluru: The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, as expected, will host the final of this season's IPL on June 3 while the unrelenting rain in Bengaluru has forced the BCCI to shift the May 23rd fixture between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad from the Chinnaswamy Stadium to Lucknow.

Ahmedabad, which had hosted the final of the glitzy T20 league in 2022 and 2023 when Gujarat Giants and Chennai Super Kings triumphed respectively, will host the Qualifier 2 on June 1.

The new PCA Stadium in Mullanpur, the home base of Punjab Kings, has been picked to host Qualifier 1 on May 29 followed by the Eliminator on May 30.

Initially, Hyderabad and Kolkata, by virtue of being last year’s finalists, were slated to host the play-offs but with wet weather forecast in the south and monsoon expected to hit Kolkata in the first week of June, BCCI has decided to shift the play-offs completely to different venues.

"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," the BCCI said in a statement.

The tournament was paused for a week following a military stand-off between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, forcing the authorities to change the schedule and venues, keeping in mind the prevailing weather.

While the Royal Challengers fans will be disappointed at not getting an opportunity to see their team for one last time this season, the franchise wouldn’t be complaining travelling to Lucknow considering the murky weather here.

Their clash against Kolkata Knight Riders last Saturday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was abandoned without a ball being bowled and with heavy rain predicted for the rest of the week, moving to Lucknow is a safer bet of getting a full game.

While the second-placed RCB (17 points) have already punched their play-off ticket, they would be looking to win their remaining two games that would help them finish in the top two. A top-two finish in the league stage gives the losing team in Qualifier 1 a second bite at the cherry.