The spring in India only means one thing – Indian Premier League. While the sport of cricket doesn’t originate from India we can call this Asian country its home without a second thought. Indians love this game from the bottom of their hearts and it’s no wonder that the world’s premium league is played in India. The land of Maharajas is the home of the 2025 IPL, and we can’t wait for the competition to start.
The 18-year old competition is scheduled to start on March 22nd and to end on May 25th. We have two months of the most exciting cricket in the world of sports, and some early favorites are already known. The 2025 IPL auction is long over, and we can base our picks & predictions based on the past success and on the strength of the current squads.
Will it be a sixth title for one of the Mumbai Indians or Chennai Super Kings, or will the Kolkata Knight Riders make it four for them. It might be a year of surprises so that we get our first time winner, and that will happen if either of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals, or Lucknow SuperGiants manage to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat.
Whatever happens we’re in for another exciting spring season of cricket in India. If you want to make predictions and picks on your own, it is wise to take a look at the IPL 2024 Team Previews Page, and see how some of these teams fared last season. If not, stick to what we have to say about the best IPL teams 2025 cricket season in India has to offer.
Gujarat Titans
The Titans need to be taken seriously this season. Any team with the bowling potential they have is in the top tier of the IPL teams. What pundits have against them is their subpar middle unit. Yet, we believe that this team has what it takes to go all the way this year, or at least reach the top 4 when the regular part of the season ends. Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Sai Sudarsan, Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia are more than a solid core for a team looking to beat all of their opponents. As if these boys aren’t enough the team is now stronger with the addition of Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, and Prasidh Krishna.
But, as we said, they are weak in the middle. They have a quality group in Anuj Rawat, Shahrukh, Mahipal Lomror and Glenn Phillips. Good players, but fairly inconsistent. What we’re hoping for is that some, if not all of them, will hit their stride when it matters. If this happens, any game can be turned in Gujarat Titans favour. After all, we’re talking about an experienced bunch that won the title in 2022 and made it back to the finals in 2023. If a few games go their way early in the season, we could be looking at serious title contenders come the end of May.
Mumbai Indians
The Indians are historically one of the most successful IPL teams, and they aim for the high honours every year. They showed their intentions during the auction when they played the Right to Match card and kept the hold of their domestic superstars, starting with Naman Dhir. When looking at all of their additions you understand that the highest ambitions are there. Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma, Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner are all names with league experience and even titles to their name.
The rest of the lads that will feature on the team include the likes of Will Jacks, Allah Ghazanfar, Reece Topley, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, and Bevon Jacobs among many others. The ambitions remain high in Mumbai, and in addition to Chennai Super Kings, the Indians are seen as one of the teams that can lift the trophy this year. If they manage this will make them the most successful team in the IPL with 6 titles to their name. If you take a look at Stake’s IPL 2025 Team Previews Page they have Mumbai Indian ranked even higher than we do.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Knight Riders are a well-run franchise, unlike the NBAs Dallas Mavericks. Kolkata did an amazing job in retaining their top talent. Before the auction their squad was set in stone with the likes of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, and Ramandeep Singh. These men are all experienced professionals, proven winners, and natural leaders. The franchise has relied on them for some time now, and they have always delivered when it mattered the most. We saw it when the team won last year’s title.
KKR had a clear goal before the season – retain as much as possible from the championship team. They’ve done this to a fair extent. The downside of their dealings is that the biggest part of their budget went into the acquisition of Venkatesh Iyer. With Iyer on the roster some of the team leaders from the years past had to be let go. Also, they’ve lost in a bidding war to Mumbai Indians for Allah Ghazanfar. To make up for it, they went the experience route and added Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey. While adding the likes of Arora, de Kock, Johnson, Nortje, and Roy are all good moves they are lacking in the department of Indian batters. While still remaining one of the top favorites, they will need a tad bit of luck to go all the way this year too.
Chennai Super Kings
In Super Kings we have yet another team that fared well when it comes to retaining your best players. Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, and Matheesha Pathirana are all still on the roster. The core of this team is amazing and they’re coming into the 2025 IPL seas even more potent. We have them high on our best IPL teams 2025 ranking list and sports betting outlets such as Stake.com reflect this too with their odds. We’re sure that IPL team stats will reflect the same notion come the year end.
While Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway will keep the batting section on a high level the same can’t be said for Chennai Super Kings middle order. While on paper Jamie Overton, Sam Curran, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, and Dube sound terrifying, they’re not at the top of their game and cricket has better squads to offer especially this year in the IPL. They might not be one of the top dogs next season. Title challenge? For sure! Sure-fire winners? Not likely.
With Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary and Pathirana on the team, the ambition needs to be there. But they still need to deliver and prove that we’re looking at one of the top cricket units in India and not at the third wheel in our IPL 2025 squad rankings.
Lucknow SuperGiants
We can’t make this list without Lucknow SuperGiants. Their batting unit is something else even compared to the league’s standards. LSG did the work in the auction, landing the likes of Rishabh Pant, David Miller, Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram. The best part is that they were added to a room already having Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni. In terms of plans, Super Giants have made theirs a reality. The downside of their preseason is that their sole focus was on the batting room. Move your view onto the bowling unit and you will not be as nearly as impressed.
The sign that things are not completely grim in the bowling department is the fact that the team has retained Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav and Mohsin Khan. They were also reinforced by the additions of Avesh Khan, Akash Deep, M Siddharth, Shahbaz Ahmed and Shamar Joseph. Things could be worse, yes, but they could be better. Let’s say an overseas bowler in the mix. Mow, that’s lacking and LSG will just have to do without it. Unfortunately the auction had a few names that could fit the system, but they’ve missed out on the likes of Coetzee, Rabada, and Hazlewood.
All things considered LSG could have been at a worst position. Nowadays, they have their batting section covered, as their owner wanted from the start, and with a bit of luck in the bowling field they could push to the limit even the best of the best.
Historical Performance: How Past IPL Trends Shape 2025 Predictions
IPL is one of the world’s best leagues due to the fact that it is hard to predict the winner. Yes, that’s what we’ve been trying to do through this article, but based on the current squad strength and not based on the trends from the past. When you take a look at the past winners you understand that it is hard to be dominant in this league. The parity was made possible by the auction system, which works perfectly if you ask us.
The only team that has managed to win back-to-back titles in the IPL were the Mumbai Indians. Despite that one-of-a-kind success they haven’t made it back to the finals in four years. They’re aiming for the top this season, but nothing is guaranteed, even for the 5-time winners. Another team with 5 titles in the competition are the Chennai Super Kings. Five titles is no easy feat, and both of these teams will be looking to win the 6th. Super Kings won it all back in 2023, so they are closer to another one than Mumbai Indians.
Based on the most recent success, the team to have an eye on based on the history of the competition are the Kolkata Knight Riders. They’re the reigning champions, have a quality squad and want to add a fourth title to the mix reaching up for that stratosphere where Indians and Super Kings are with 5 titles each. There have been 18 seasons of IPL so far, and considering that the 13 titles have been divided between three teams it is clear that chances are that we’re going to have a repeat on the podium than a new winner altogether. The teams that have never won a title include the likes of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals, and Lucknow SuperGiants. Among these teams we trust that at the moment the closest one to the title are the Lucknow SuperGiants.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians (MI), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), and Gujarat Titans (GT) have at least one title to their name. One of these teams could have easily been the dark horse of the 2025 title race.
Who Are the Dark Horses This Season?
There are no dark horses. There is only one dark horse and it’s Sunrisers Hyderabad. It will be hard to believe what we’re telling you but their squad is up there with the best. We haven’t singled them out as favorites but as a dark horse they have our backing. Being able to retain the names such as Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Reddy speaks volumes of their ambition for the year. As if this team wasn’t enough they’ve opened the check book and signed Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Mohammaed Shami, Harshal Patel, and Ishan Kishan. Yes, what you have in Sunrisers Hyderabad are a star studded team.
They have enough prowess to test any adversary both in batting and in bowling. Shami, Harshal, Chahar, Jaydev Unadkat and Simarjeet Singh are one of the best bowling attacks in the league. Batting doesn’t fall back as they now have Atharva Taide and Abhinav Manohar among others. Last year, their squad had enough firepower to get the team to the final. There they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders with a loss margin of 8 wickets. Barring any injuries or unprecedented events Sunrisers Hyderabad have all the makings of a dark horse that could surprise many of the favorites, fans, and pundits alike.
With everything said above, we can conclude that we’re in for one hell of a cricket season in India. Please, tell us, who are your favorites to go all the way?
