Michael Vaughan predicts IPL 2025 champion; picks India’s Champions Trophy stars as Orange Cap and Purple Cap winners

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has made huge predictions for the new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025), which begins on Saturday, March 22. The 50-year-old has predicted the title winners and players who will walk away with the Orange and the Purple Caps.

The cricketer-turned-commentator has backed Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Shubman Gill to deliver with the bat and emerge as the leading run-scorer in the 18th edition of the T20 league. Vaughan also picked Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Varun Chakaravarthy to scalp the most wickets.

The duo recently delivered with the bat and ball as India won the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai. Gill also became the ICC Player of the Month for February following his consecutive tons against England and Bangladesh. The right-hander amassed 188 runs in five innings at an average of 75.50 in the ICC ODI event. Meanwhile, Chakaravarthy emerged as the top-wicket taker with nine scalps in three innings.

As far as the IPL is concerned, Gill has 3,216 runs in 100 innings, including four tons and 20 half-centuries. He smashed 483, 890, and 426 runs in his last three seasons.

On the other hand, Chakaravarthy has bagged 83 wickets in 70 innings. The mystery spinner picked up 21 wickets in 14 innings last season, helping the Knight Riders win their third trophy.

Predicting that the Mumbai Indians would win this year, Vaughan wrote on X:

"My IPL predictions … @mipaltan to win @ShubmanGill top scorer Varun Chakravarthy most wickets."

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Michael Vaughan predicts Mumbai Indians to win IPL 2025 trophy

Michael Vaughan also picked five-time champions Mumbai Indians to win the IPL 2025. The remarks came even as the Hardik Pandya-led franchise finished at the bottom of the points table last year. They will play their opening game against arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, March 23.

Skipper Pandya will not be available for the specific match after facing a slow-over rate ban last season. Ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah will also miss the first few games as he continues to recover from a back injury he sustained during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT).

MI won their last trophy in 2020. The Mumbai-based franchise has the opportunity to become the most successful franchise in the tournament with a sixth title. They are currently tied with the Super Kings (five titles each).

MI squad for 2025 season: Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Raj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.