65% of IPL fans are rooting for a first-time champion this season RCB leads as favourites to win with 44% votes, followed by Delhi Capitals at 12%

: The 23 Watts Survey of 5,000+ IPL Fans, reveals

• ‘The IPL Pulse’ shows rising support for New Talent, with the 14-year-old, Vaibhav Suryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals emerging as the favourite debutant with 31.4% votes followed by Ashwani Kumar of Mumbai Indians with 21%
• 73% of fans want MS Dhoni back on the pitch next season, while 12% continue to hope for a CSK triumph despite the slump

India, May 20, 2025: The 23 Watts Insights Studio, announced their fan sentiment analysis report for 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) titled “The IPL Pulse”, capturing the loyalties, opinions, and emotional undercurrents driving this year’s edition. The survey explores how India’s Cricket fandom, especially Gen Zs, are engaging with the league, reacting to its evolving format, and rallying behind both legacy icons and new talent.

In a country where cricket isn’t just a sport but a cultural pulse, The 23 Watts Insights Studio tapped into the real mood of IPL 2025 and gathered opinion of more than 5,000 fans, till May 5, 2025 (Match 55: Delhi Capitals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad), across key cities including Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Chandigarh. No filter, no fluff, only sharp opinions, and fan loyalties that are driving this season’s energy.
According to the “The IPL Pulse”, majority of fans surveyed want MS Dhoni to keep playing, showing his lasting presence in the game. When asked about his retirement, an overwhelming 73% said they want him to continue, highlighting the strong support Thala still receives from fans all over the country.

From Legends to Rising Talent, the fans voted Vaibhav Suryavanshi as the most impressive IPL 2025 debutant with 31.4% of the consensus wooed by his cricketing skills. The Rajasthan Royals teenager is clearly turning heads, followed by Mumbai Indians’ emerging bowler, Ashwani Kumar with 21% votes. Another southpaw, Ryan Rickelton of Mumbai Indians (15.8%), Aniket Verma of Sunrisers Hyderabad (15.7%), and Vipraj Nigam of Delhi Capitals (12.5%) make up the trio of batsmen ruling hearts in their debut season.

At the bowling end, the current top ranked bowler in the world, Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah (32.4%) was voted the toughest bowler to face in the ongoing season. He was closely followed by Chennai Super King’s Chinaman, Noor Ahmad with 28.4% of votes. Interestingly, a significant majority (65.3%) fans believe fast bowlers are tougher to face than spinners in IPL 2025.

65% of fans believe that IPL 2025 will see a new winner this time. With Royal Challengers Bangalore (44%), Delhi Capitals (12%), Punjab Kings (7%) and Lucknow Super Giants (2%) being tipped to take home the trophy this season. While the consensus is rooting for a dark horse, the loyal fan base of the biggies like Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings is keeping their dreams alive with 13% and 12% votes respectively.

“The IPL Pulse” also has views on IPL’s format evolution and integration of the “Impact player rule” that seems to be striking the right chord with 78% of respondents giving a resounding yes verdict to ‘impact players’ making the game more strategic and interesting.

Some highlights of the report reveal interesting insights like:

1. Thala > Stats: 77% believe he is struggling but is still valuable; 35.13% say that he is the soul of CSK, and 27% believe that he should retire & guide from outside
2. A new winner: 65% of fans want a first-time winner, with RCB leading at 44%. Mumbai Indians got 13% support, followed by Delhi Capitals and CSK at 12% ea Punjab Kings drew 7%, and KKR 5% votes.
3. New Talent takes CenterStage: Vaibhav Suryavanshi topped the charts with 31.4% votes, followed by Ashwani Kumar at 21% as the most impressive debutants of 2025. This is followed by Ryan Rickelton (MI) also stands out at 15.8%. The rest, including Jacob Bethell (RCB) and Vignesh Puthur (MI) hold 1.1 % and 2.4% respectively.
4. Toughest Bowler This Season: Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah led with 32.4%, closely trailed by Noor Ahmad of CSK at 28.4%. Mohammad Siraj (GT) follows at 16.4%, while others like Rashid Khan and Varun Chakaravarthy garnered less than 1%

Are impact players and their impact off the pitch: 78% of the consensus believes that the introduction of “impact players” has made the game more strategic and engaging, while 20% that the rules is overhyped and unfair to all-rounders.