The 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) will resume on May 17 after a week-long hiatus due to rising tensions between India and Pakistan. The first game back will have Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) take on the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
With cricket back on center stage, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has urged a more subdued ambiance for the forthcoming matches in response to the latest terror attacks in Kashmir. Gavaskar made this call after the Indian army's 'Operation Sindoor,' a revenge attack on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following a fatal terror attack in Pahalgam.
Talking to *Sports Today*, Gavaskar had this to say: "I would sincerely hope, due to what has occurred and some families have lost their near and dear ones, there is no music. Let's not have the DJs yelling in the middle of an over."
He added further, "Let the matches be played. Let the audience enter. But only cricket — no dancing girls, nothing. That would be a very good way of honoring the sentiment of the families."
Gavaskar also approved of the one-week suspension of the IPL, saying, "With hostilities, there was no room for sport. But now that there is a ceasefire, the tournament can go ahead."
India Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) announced the revised schedule of IPL on Monday evening, in which 17 matches will be played across six venues, including the final on June 3.
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