By Zainab Shafiq 
As the 2025 IPL playoffs kick off, a growing number of fans and experts are beginning to ask: Is the IPL losing its charm and getting boring over time? With 74 matches packed into a seemingly endless window, the tournament is now longer than even global events like the ICC World Cup. What was once a high-octane, compact league is starting to feel like a county tournament dragging on for months, with interest steadily declining as the weeks pass.
BCCI’s plan to extend the IPL window further and add more teams only adds to the fatigue. More matches do not necessarily mean more excitement, especially when the quality of the contest begins to drop.
Too Many Teams, Too Much Mediocrity
A major contributing factor is the expansion to 10 teams. With 18 players in each squad, there are now 180 cricketers competing, compared to just 144 when there were eight teams. Assuming even one-third are top-tier players, the overall talent pool gets stretched, leading to imbalanced lineups and diluted competition. IPL was once a battleground for the best, but with the current structure, too many average players occupy crucial spots. Reducing at least one team could help restore quality.
Impact Player Rule: A Flawed Innovation
Then there’s the Impact Player rule. While innovative, it effectively turns matches into 12 vs 12 affairs, distorting the traditional balance of cricket. All-rounders, once invaluable, have become almost irrelevant, and batting depth is artificially inflated. High-scoring games have increased, but thrill and strategic nuance have declined. As Dwayne Bravo recently pointed out, reckless batting has become common, and true cricketing balance is lost.
If IPL wants to retain its spark, it needs to go back to the fundamentals including tighter formats, quality over quantity, and rules that reflect the game’s true spirit.