The customary captains’ meeting and photo shoot ahead of the inaugural ceremony will not be held in Calcutta, the host city for the IPL 2025 opener.

Eden Gardens will host the opening match by virtue of Kolkata Knight Riders being the defending champions. Ajinkya Rahane’s team will meet Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday.

The BCCI has informed all 10 franchises that the meeting, involving the captains and team managers, will take place in Mumbai on Thursday. It will be held at the Cricket Centre, the BCCI headquarters housed inside the Wankhede Stadium premises, and will continue for an hour.

This will be followed by the captains’ photo-op at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and other related sponsorship activities. The whole process is expected to be over by late afternoon.

It has generally been the norm that both the events are held at the venue of the inaugural match. Last year, it was held in Chennai since Chennai Super Kings were the champions in IPL 2023.

CSK had pulled off a surprise at the event by sending Ruturaj Gaikwad and it was revealed that Mahendra Singh Dhoni had decided to step down as captain.

Even during IPL 2023, the captains’ conclave was held in Ahmedabad since Gujarat Titans had won the title in the previous edition. Rohit Sharma had missed the session since he was reportedly not keeping well.

While there has been no official reason cited for moving the captains’ meet out of Calcutta, it is understood that logistical reasons could be behind the shifting of venue.

A senior BCCI official, however, said there was nothing sacrosanct about the rule. “It is not mandatory to have the captains’ meet or briefing at the venue of the inaugural match though we have tried to comply with it on most occasions,” he said.

“There were some logistical issues like flight connectivity and other things... Most captains wanted to be back with the team at the earliest since the tournament would begin a day later,” he said.

The BCCI has been trying to make the refurbished Cricket Centre the hub of all activities and this could be a step in that direction.

The captains for IPL 2025 have already been confirmed — Ajinkya Rahane (KKR),
Pat Cummins (SRH), Rajat Patidar (RCB), Sanju Samson (RR), Hardik Pandya (MI), Ruturaj Gaikwad (CSK), Rishabh Pant (LSG), Shreyas Iyer (PBKS), Axar Patel (DC) and Shubman Gill (GT).

All captains have joined their respective franchises with Cummins and Samson being the last to do so.

RCB are expected to reach Calcutta on Wednesday with practice sessions scheduled for Thursday and Friday.