IPL 2025: What's new! golden badge, two-ball rule, captains, coaches & BCCI's fresh diktat

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 is all set to kick start on Saturday, 22 March with a match between defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Eden Gardens. Ahead of the upcoming season, the BCCI has introduced several new rules and regulations.

From the introduction of a ‘Golden Badge’ to a major change in the use of match balls, here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming season.

Golden badge – A new mark of honour

Much like European football leagues where defending champions don a golden badge, IPL has rolled out this feature for its title-winning team. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the 2024 champions, will be the first to sport the Golden Badge on their jerseys in IPL 2025, symbolising their status as the reigning champions.

First Ever Champions to don the Golden Badge In the History of TATA IPL! 💜👑 pic.twitter.com/RzowVLqRWu

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 7, 2025

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Two-ball rule – A major shake-up

Traditionally, a single white ball is used throughout each innings of a T20 match. However, due to persistent challenges posed by dew in sub-continental conditions, IPL 2025 will introduce the Two-Ball rule . From the 11th over of the second innings, two separate balls will be used from each end to keep the match balanced.

Hawk-Eye to judge off-side and head-high wides

IPL 2025 will introduce Hawk-Eye to judge off-side and head-high wides along with waist-high no-balls. The wide guideline will now move with the batter, with Hawk-Eye tracking the movement and adjusting it accordingly. The TV umpire will use this revised guideline to make calls, though the return crease will remain fixed, and the system won’t apply to leg-side wides.

Replacement rule extended

The BCCI has extended the player replacement policy , allowing teams to replace injured or unavailable players up to their 12th league match. Earlier, this was restricted to the 7th game of the season.

As per the updated rules, franchises can sign replacements only from the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP), players who registered for the auction but remained unsold. Additionally, while teams can sign RAPP-listed players as net bowlers, they cannot block their signing by another team as a replacement.

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No IPL team captain ban for slow over-rates

The IPL team captains will not face immediate match bans for over-rate offences. The BCCI has decided to penalise the captains with demerit points with a ban being handed over only in extreme cases.

“The captain will be penalised with demerit points but will not face a match ban for the slow over-rate,” a BCCI message to IPL teams read, per by Cricbuzz. The Level 1 offence will be charged 25 to 75 percent match fees with demerit points which will be calculated for next three years.

“A Level 2 offence, if exactly deemed serious, will result in four demerit points.

“For every 4 demerit points accumulated, the match referee can impose a penalty, either in the form of a 100 percent fine or additional demerit points. These demerit points could potentially lead to a match ban in the future,” a source said. “But for slow overrate it won’t be a match ban (immediately).”

New captains for IPL 2025

Several franchises have witnessed leadership changes ahead of IPL 2025:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru – Rajat Patidar takes over the captaincy.

Delhi Capitals – Axar Patel has been named skipper.

Rajasthan Royals – Riyan Parag will lead as a stand-in captain for the first three games while Sanju Samson recovers from a finger injury. Samson will play solely as a batter until he gets clearance to return as wicketkeeper and full-time captain.

Meanwhile, some other teams have appointed new captains, but with prior IPL leadership experience. Shreyas Iyer will lead Punjab Kings, Ajinkya Rahane takes charge of Kolkata Knight Riders, and Rishabh Pant will captain Lucknow Super Giants.

A new era begins with the same fearless mindset 🫡@RCBTweets fans, are you ready to '𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘭𝘥' with Captain Rajat Patidar? ❤#TATAIPL | @rrjjt_01 pic.twitter.com/Ac1r0LiJ2F

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 20, 2025

New Season 🙌
New Captain 😎
Double Roar 🦁@DelhiCapitals fans, welcome to the Captain Axar Patel era 💙#TATAIPL | @akshar2026 pic.twitter.com/ZMX05s4lCt

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 17, 2025

New coaches for IPL 2025

IPL 2025 will see fresh faces in coaching roles. Hemang Badani has been appointed as the head coach of Delhi Capitals with Matthew Mott as his deputy, while Matthew Wade joins Gujarat Titans as an assistant coach. Ottis Gibson has joined Kolkata Knight Riders as their assistant coach. Carl Hopkinson is the Mumbai Indians’ new fielding coach.

Meanwhile, several other franchises have brought in new faces, but with past coaching experience. Ricky Ponting is now the head coach of Punjab Kings, Kevin Pietersen is the new mentor of Delhi Capitals and Dwayne Bravo has joined KKR as their new mentor.

IPL’s new most expensive player

A major highlight from the IPL 2025 auction was Rishabh Pant becoming the most expensive player in IPL history, fetching a whopping INR 27 crore. He surpassed the previous record held by Mitchell Starc, who was sold for INR 24.75 crore to KKR in the IPL 2024 auction.

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 🤯

Rishabh Pant broke the record as Lucknow Super Giants successfully bid ₹27 crore for the Indian player during the recently concluded #TATAIPLAuction 💪#TATAIPL | @RishabhPant17 | @LucknowIPL pic.twitter.com/IoOQWWxxdt

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 3, 2024

BCCI’s new diktat on practice sessions

The BCCI has rolled out fresh guidelines for practice sessions to maintain pitch quality and player safety. These regulations aim to ensure that practice venues remain in optimal condition for matches while still providing teams with ample training opportunities.