IPL franchises are recalling overseas players & staff ahead of the restart of the tournament

Franchises are trying to bring their foreign players back to India, the majority of whom had departed from the country due to the delay of IPL 2025 because of the India vs Pakistan war.

57 matches had been played in IPL 2025, and the 58th one was scheduled to be played on May 8 between DC and PBKS in Dharamsala when it was postponed after 10.1 overs of play.

The majority of the foreign recruits of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises left for their homelands on Saturday after the high-profile T20 League was suspended for a week because of India-Pakistan border tensions.

As the tournament has been suspended, the players and support staff of several franchises have already started heading back to their respective hometowns, while some foreign players are heading back home.

IPL Restart Date

The BCCI has started making moves to restart IPL 2025 in May after the announcement of a ceasefire between India and Pakistan that took effect on Saturday.

“The war has halted. In the new scenario, BCCI office-bearers, officials, and the IPL governing council will sit together tomorrow (Sunday) and decide,” BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla informed PTI. “We will see which can be the best schedule to complete the tournament.”

As per ESPNcricinfo, the ten franchises are attempting to recall overseas players and coaching personnel back to India with plans to get the tournament going again as early as possible. It is known that the IPL will begin as early as next weekend – May 15 – pending Indian government approval.

IPL franchises recalling foreign players and staff

The first task is for the franchises to attempt to get their overseas players, who have been leaving India from Friday to Saturday, back to India. Players and support staff currently in transit have been asked to stop further travel temporarily. A revised wish list has been made and is being circulated to the franchises. One of the franchises also requested its coaching staff to delay traveling outside India as they were preparing to leave on Sunday.

Some franchises are luckier than others in this respect: just two Gujarat Titans overseas players, Jos Buttler and Gerald Coetzee, have flown out of the country and the team is attempting to repatriate them.

Though the franchises were hopeful initially on Saturday morning that most overseas players would rejoin if the tournament was restarted from next week.

Remaining matches of IPL 2025

There are four playoffs and 12 league matches left in the season, and one of the possibilities is that these can be staged in three southern cities: Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Seven teams are still in the hunt for the playoffs, with only the Rajasthan Royals (RR), Chennai Super Kings (CSK), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) out of the playoffs race.