Firstly, If you don’t watch the IPL are you even a cricket fan? The full form of IPL stands for Indian Premier League and it is India’s most-followed professional T20 cricket league that has been the talk of the town ever since its inception. In this article, we shall look at the formation of the IPL and when it was founded. We shall also look at the Indian Cricket tournament IPL teams, records, prize money and not to forget the controversies that have been a part of the tournament.
Start Of the Indian Premier League
In 2007, Zee entertainment funded the Indian Cricket League (ICL). However, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) did not approve of the tournament. Furthermore, many BCCI committee members were leaving to join the ICL Executive board and this agitated the BCCI further. Consequently, in retaliation, the BCCI increased the prize money of its domestic tournaments and banned players that participated in the ICL
Later on, in the very same year, BCCI announced the launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Lalit Modi the then Vice President of the BCCI made the announcement in a high profile manner in Delhi. Since the IPL was his brainchild, he listed out the details of the tournament. Additionally, he specified that the IPL was not a reply to the Indian Cricket League and that the IPL was in the making for the past 2 years. Furthermore, the T20 Indian Premier League franchises were sold for a staggering total of $723.59 million. Also, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Mohali were announced as the cities the teams would be based in. The IPL has been in full-form ever since.
Click here to read more about the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Indian Premier League Tournament Format
Firstly, the Indian Cricket tournament IPL T20 has eight teams, and these eight teams participate in a round-robin format for the league stage. Furthermore, the teams play every other team twice. After that, the top 4 qualifying teams move on to the playoffs.
Here comes the interesting part. Firstly, the first two teams play against each other to directly qualify for the finals. However, the losing team is not knocked out yet. After that, the third and fourth place teams play each other in an elimination match and the loser of this match is knocked out of the tournament. Then the winner of the elimination match and the loser of the first qualifying match compete for a spot in the finals. After that, the winner of the match plays the winner of the first qualifying match and they compete for the title of the T20 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Acquiring Players
To begin with, there are three methods to acquire players. Firstly an Indian Premier League team can acquire players through the annual player auction. Secondly, teams can acquire players by trading with other teams during the trading windows. Lastly, they can make use of their replacement signings in case of unavailable players.
During the auctions, players sign up along with their base prices. After that, the highest bidders get the players. Furthermore, the unsold players are eligible as replacement signings. During trading windows, a player can only be traded with his consent. Moreover, the team has to pay the difference between the old and new contracts if any. Player trading is carried out during the trading windows. Whereas, replacement signings are done before or during the T20 IPL as well.
Match Rules Of The Indian Premier League
Firstly there is no specific time for a team to complete their innings as the IPL has television timeouts. Each team gets a 2 and a half minute strategic timeout during each inning. Since 2018, the Indian Premier League has started using the Umpire Decision Review System. T20 IPL teams can use this once per inning to review an on-field decision.
Indian Premier League Cash Prize
Indian Premier League the full form of the enormous franchise, IPL, pays its participants a hefty amount for winning the tournament. The 2019 edition of the Indian Cricket Tournament IPL saw a prize pool of $7 million and to begin with, the winners bagged an amount of $2.8 million. Furthermore, the first and second runners up received an enormous amount of $1.8 million and $1.2 million respectively. Lastly, the team in fourth place also received a cash prize of $1.2 million. However, according to the Indian Premier League guidelines, half the cash prize must be distributed among the players.
Teams Of The Indian Premier League
To begin with, the T20 IPL is home to eight teams and all the teams belong to different cities spread across India. The following teams are currently participating in the Indian Premier League(IPL).
1. Chennai Super Kings
Title Wins Till Date: 3 (2010, 2011, 2018)
- Owner Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd.
- Coach Stephen Fleming
- Venue M. A. Chidambaram Stadium
- Captain MS Dhoni
2. Kings XI Punjab
- Owner KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited
- Coach Anil Kumble
- Venue IS Bindra Stadium
- Captain K L Rahul
3. Delhi Capitals
- Owner GMR Sports & JSW Sports Pvt Ltd
- Coach Ricky Ponting
- Venue Feroz Shah Kotla Ground
- Captain Shreyas Iyer
4. Mumbai Indians
Title Wins Till Date: 4 (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
- Owner Indiawin Sports Pvt. Ltd
- Coach Mahela Jayawardene
- Venue Wankhede Stadium
- Captain Rohit Sharma
5. Kolkata Knight Riders
Title Wins Till Date: 2 (2012, 2014)
- Owner Knight Riders Sports Private Ltd
- Coach Brendon McCullum
- Venue Eden Gardens
- Captain Dinesh Karthik
7. Sunrisers Hyderabad
Title Wins Till Date: 1 (2016)
- Owner SUN TV Network
- Coach Trevor Bayliss
- Venue Rajiv Gandhi Intl. Cricket Stadium
- Captain David Warner
8. Royal Challengers Bangalore
- Owner Royal Challengers Sports Private Ltd
- Coach Simon Katich
- Venue M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
- Captain Virat Kohli
Indian Premier League Winners Till Date
| Year | Champion | Margin | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Rajasthan Royals 164/7 (20 overs) | Won by 3 wickets | Chennai Super Kings 163/5 (20 overs) |
| 2009 | Deccan Chargers 143/6 (20 overs) | Won by 6 runs | Royal Challengers Bangalore 137/9 (20 overs) |
| 2010 | Chennai Super Kings 168/5 (20 overs) | Won by 22 runs | Mumbai Indians 146/9 (20 overs) |
| 2011 | Chennai Super Kings 205/5 (20 overs) | Won by 58 runs | Royal Challengers Bangalore 147/8 (20 overs) |
| 2012 | Kolkata Knight Riders 192/5 (19.4 overs) | Won by 5 wickets | Chennai Super Kings 190/3 (20 overs) |
| 2013 | Mumbai Indians 148/9 (20 overs) | Won by 23 runs | Chennai Super Kings 125/9 (20 overs) |
| 2014 | Kolkata Knight Riders 200/7 (19.3 overs) | Won by 3 wickets | Kings XI Punjab 199/4 (20 overs) |
| 2015 | Mumbai Indians 202/5 (20 overs) | Won by 41 runs | Chennai Super Kings 161/8 (20 overs) |
| 2016 | Sunrisers Hyderabad 208/7 (20 overs) | Won by 8 runs | Royal Challengers Bangalore 200/7 (20 overs) |
| 2017 | Mumbai Indians 129/8 (20 overs) | Won by 1 run | Rising Pune Supergiant 128/6 (20 overs) |
| 2018 | Chennai Super Kings 181/2 (18.3 overs) | Won by 8 wickets | Sunrisers Hyderabad 178/6 (20 overs) |
| 2019 | Mumbai Indians 149/8 (20 overs) | Won by 1 run | Chennai Super Kings 148/7 (20 overs) |
Awards
The Indian Premier League (IPL) honors the players that have been in full form and at the top of their game and the following are the awards given out. To begin with, we have the Orange Cap, given to the highest run-scorer. Secondly, we have the Purple Cap, given to the player taking the most number of wickets.
After that is the Most Sixes Award, given to the batsman who has hit the most number of sixes. Then is the Indian Premier League Most Valuable Player Award (Full form for MVP) and this award is given to the player leading in the most valuable player rating system. After that comes the Player Of The Match Award (Final), and the Emerging Player Of The Year award, given to the best performer under the age of 23. Lastly is the Fair Play Award, given to the team with the best fair play record at the end of the Indian Premier League Season.
Click here to read about the all-time records of the IPL in detail.
Media Broadcasting
The IPL Indian Cricket Tournament originally had a partnership with Sony as well as the World Sports Group for the rights. Moreover, the 10-year contract was valued at an outrageous amount of $1.03 billion. Additionally, the IPL skyrocketed in earnings and became the most-watched event in the nation, and its revenue through ads surpassed $170 million in the 2016 season.
The Indian Cricket tournament IPL is now broadcasted by Star on its OTT platform Hotstar as well as on JIO TV. During the 2019 season, the viewership hit its peak at around 18.6 million viewers.
Controversies Of The IPL
Firstly, the Indian Premier League has had its fair share of controversy and hasn’t had that much of a clean slate. To begin with, the first traces of controversy were in 2010 were Lalit Modi was accused of being behind many financial irregularities and in 2013 he was sacked from the BCCI. Click here to read about the sacking of Lalit Modi in detail.
Then came the spot-fixing case in 2012 and TP Sudhindra, Mohnish Mishra , Amit Yadav, Shalabh Srivastava, and Abhinav Bali were the players accused. Consequently, these players were immediately suspended by the Indian Premier League. Furthermore, in a sting operation overseen by India Tv, Mohnish Mishra revealed that he was paid 15 million rupees by the franchises, out of which 12 million was black money.
Similarly, in 2013 the T20 IPL saw another spot-fixing and betting case, and Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan, and Ajit Chandila were the three players accused. Also, Gurunath Meiyappan a top official was arrested on counts of being connected to illegal betting.
Furthermore, in recent years IPL faced a lot of criticism for keeping its Chinese sponsors despite the government trying to end all ties with China. In conclusion, the Indian Premier League has gone through many controversies that have stained the name of the tournament.
FAQs Regarding Indian Premier League (IPL)
The full form of IPL is the Indian Premier League and not only is it the most followed professional T20 league but also the highest revenue-generating tournament in the country.
MS Dhoni the Chennai Super Kings captain, as well as former India captain, is regarded as the king of IPL having led his team to 8 IPL finals and winning 3 title till date.
IPL Teams Chennai Super Kings as well as Rajasthan Royals were found guilty of involvement in illegal betting activities and hence were suspended for 2 years.
Bangalore Royal Challengers and Indian national team skipper Virat Kholi, is not only the highest-paid IPL player but also the highest rated.
Kings XI Punjab batsman Chris Gayle is the leader in terms of number of IPL sixes (326) and is also considered as one the best T20 batsmen of all time.
Editor’s Note | Indian Premier League (IPL)
To sum up, the IPL has been in full form since its inception and has captured the attention of the entire nation. Furthermore, cricket lovers in India are crazy behind the teams they support and make sure their voices are heard every time they enter the stands. Additionally, you can see them with their painted faces and team flags covered all across the stadiums. Consequently, the Indian Premier League has proven to be a major source of entertainment for the Indian audience and it continues to do so. In conclusion, IPL the Indian Cricket tournament has not only won the hearts of millions but also encouraged people to unite in the name of cricket. Despite the controversies that form a part of its history, IPL continues to do well and break records in the field of cricket.
