The Indian Premier League (“IPL”) is an international-level professional T20 cricket game played in India since 2008 which means that each side gets to play for 20 overs each. The IPL is usually played during the month of April – May of every year in India. Did you know that Twenty20 cricket became extremely popular after India won the T20 World Cup in 2007?

Find out Everything You Need to Know About IPL 

Origins of IPL

IPL is a cricket league established by the Board of Cricket Control in India (“BCCI”). BCCI is the governing body for all cricket activities in India. IPL was the brainchild of the then BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi. The IPL has a group stage system where 10 teams play each other and the top four teams after the group stage qualify for the knockout stages. The Ten teams are based out of major Indian cities. 

How does IPL Work?

In the beginning, the franchises were auctioned by the BCCI, where the highest bidder won the rights to own a team, representing each city. Each year the players are auctioned and the teams bid on them.

Each IPL team is mandatorily required to have four foreign players and seven Indian players. Cricket players at the International level of all countries will be shuffled together with the domestic as well as International Indian Players. This shuffling process is done through an annual auction, which happens prior to the start of the IPL. The players will go into the auction and get selected by a particular team. The selected player will play for that auctioned team for a particular agreement period.

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Inaugural season of IPL

The first season of the IPL became a huge success. It followed an 8 team format having the likes of superstars like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Brendon McCullum, and several others taking part in it. Over the years IPL saw the emergence of many young players, young players found a platform to showcase their talent which helped them to reach their dream of playing for their country.

Team selection

IPL’s franchises were provided in an auction-based format where people were asked to bid from a base price of $400 Million. Business tycoons like Vijay Maalya and Mukesh Ambani became owners of Bangalore and Mumbai teams respectively, the Bollywood industry also got in the business process when superstar Shah Rukh Khan won the bid for the Kolkata Knight Riders for $75.09 million. 

 

Who won the first IPL? 

Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural IPL by defeating Chennai Super Kings in a crunch encounter defeating them on the very last ball to clinch the title by 3 wickets. 

 

All IPL Winners 

Mumbai Indians hold the most number of IPL titles with their trophy cabinet currently containing 5 titles, they are closely followed by MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings with four titles. The 2022 season saw the emergence of a new dominant team in the form of Gujarat Titans, who won the IPL title in their very first season. 

When were the other new teams introduced?

In the 2022 season, IPL turned into a 10-team league with the introduction of two new teams in the form of Gujarat Titans and Lucknow SuperGiants. The Gujarat team hosts its games in the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad which is also the biggest stadium in the world with a seating capacity of 132,000. 

Some interesting facts about IPL

Royal Challengers Bangalore (“RCB”) holds the record for the highest (263) and lowest (49) total score in IPL history.

Sourav Ganguly of Kolkata Knight Riders was the first wicket to fall in the first-ever game of the IPL on 18th April 2008 as Zaheer Khan of Royal Challengers Bangalore scalped his wicket.

Virat Kohli is the only player to play for only one franchise (RCB).

Brad Hogg is the oldest player to play in an IPL match at the age of 45 years when he featured against Gujarat Lions playing for his team Kolkata Knight Riders on May 8th, 2016.

Prayas Ray Barman is the youngest player to play in an IPL match at the age of 16 years and 157 days when he played in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 31, 2019. 

Chris Gayle scored the highest individual score in an IPL game (175*) in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s encounter with Pune Warriors India on 23rd April 2013. 

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History makers at IPL

Chris Gayle has scored the most number of centuries. (5)

David Warner holds the record for the most number of half-centuries with 56 to his name. 

The record for most runs in an IPL season is held by Virat Kohli when he scored 973 runs in 2016. 

Dwayne Bravo has taken the most wickets in IPL history having taken 183 wickets. 

Sachin Tendulkar was the first Indian player to win the Most Valuable Player award at the IPL in 2010 for Mumbai Indians.