| Indian Premier League | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the Indian Premier League | |
| Countries | India |
| Administrator | BCCI |
| Headquarter | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Format | Twenty20 |
| First tournament | 2008 |
| Last tournament | 2010 |
| Tournament format | Double round-robin and Knockout |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Current champion |  Chennai Super Kings |
| Most successful |  Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super Kings (1 title each) |
| Qualification | Twenty20 Champions League |
| Most runs | Suresh Raina (1311)[1] |
| Most wickets | R. P. Singh (51)[2] |
| Website | IPLT20.com |
In 2010, IPL became the first sporting event ever to be broadcast live on the popular video sharing website YouTube. It's brand value was estimated to be around $4.13 billion (over Rs 18,000 crore) the same year. According to global sports salaries review, IPL is the second highest-paid league, based on first-team salaries on a pro rata basis, second only to the NBA. It is estimated that the average salary of an IPL player over a year would be £2.5 million.
History
First season
Main article: 2008 Indian Premier League
The inaugural season of the tournament started on 18 April 2008 and lasted for 46 days with 59 matches scheduled, out of which 58 took place and 1 was washed out due to rain. The final was played in DY Patil Stadium, Nerul, Navi Mumbai. Every team played each other both at home and away in a round robin system. The top four ranking sides progressed to the knockout stage of semi-finals followed by a final. Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in a last ball thriller and emerged as the inaugural IPL champions.
Second season
Main article: 2009 Indian Premier League
The 2009 season coincided with the general elections in India. Owing to concerns regarding players' security, the venue was shifted to South Africa. The format of the tournament remained the same as the inaugural one. Deccan Chargers, who finished last in the first season, came out as eventual winners defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final.Third season
Main article: 2010 Indian Premier League
The third season opened in January 2010 with the auction for players. 66 players were on offer but only 11 players were sold. In this season, defending Champions Deccan Chargers did not play at their preferred home location of Hyderabad or Visakhapatnam due to the ongoing political crisis in the region. The new bases for the champions this season were Nagpur, Navi Mumbai and Cuttack. Four teams qualified for the semi-finals. The first semi-final was won by Mumbai Indians who defeated Bangalore Royal Challengers by 35 runs. Chennai Super Kings defeated Deccan Chargers in the second semi-final. The final was played between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. Chennai Super Kings won by a margin of 22 runs.Fourth season
Main article: 2011 Indian Premier League
On 21 March 2010, it was announced that 2 new teams from Pune and Kochi will be added to the IPL from next season. This will increase the number of franchises from 8 to 10 and the number of matches from 60 to 94 if the same format is used. However, the bid around the Kochi franchisee turned controversial resulting in the resignation of minister, Shashi Tharoor from the Central Government and investigations by various departments of the Government of India into the financial dealings of IPL and the other existing franchisees. Later, Lalit Modi was also removed from IPL chairmanship by BCCI.Franchises
The winning bidders for the eight franchises were announced on 24 January 2008. While the total base price for auction was US $400 million, the auction fetched US $723.59 million.On 21 March 2010, Pune and Kochi were unveiled as the two new franchises for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League. The base price was $225 million. While Pune was bought by Sahara Adventure Sports Group for $370 million, the Kochi franchise was bought by Rendezvous Sports World Limited for $333.3 million. The process was to have been completed on March 7 but was postponed by two weeks after many bidders and the BCCI objected to stiff financial clauses. The second franchise auction fetched total $703 million.
| Franchise | Owner(s) | Captain | Price (USD) | Price (Rupees) | Location Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mumbai Indians | Mukesh Ambani (Owner of Reliance Industries) | Sachin Tendulkar | $ 112.9 m | Rs. 445 Cr |   Kochi* IPL Franchises (* - Starting 2011) |
 Royal Challengers Bangalore | Vijay Mallya (UB Group) | Anil Kumble | $ 111.6 m | Rs. 440 Cr | |
| Deccan Chargers | Deccan Chronicle (Gayatri Reddy) | Adam Gilchrist | $ 107.0 m | Rs. 422 Cr | |
| Chennai Super Kings | India Cements (N.Srinivasan) | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | $ 91.90 m | Rs. 359 Cr | |
 Delhi Daredevils | GMR Group | Gautam Gambhir | $ 84.0 m | Rs. 331 Cr | |
 Kings XI Punjab | Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta, Mohit Burman , Gaurav Burman (Dabur), Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group), Aditya and Arvind Khanna | Kumar Sangakkara | $ 76.0 m | Rs. 300 Cr | |
 Kolkata Knight Riders | Red Chillies Entertainment (Shahrukh Khan, Gauri Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jai Mehta) | Sourav Ganguly | $ 75.1 m | Rs. 296 Cr | |
| Rajasthan Royals | Emerging Media (Lachlan Murdoch, A.R Jha and co.), Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra, Suresh and Kavita Chellaram | Shane Warne | $ 67.0 m | Rs. 264 Cr | |
| Sahara Pune Warriors | Sahara | - | $ 370.0 m | Rs 1,702 Cr | |
| Kochi | Rendezvous Sports Limited | - | $ 333.0 m | Rs 1,572 Cr |
Winners
| Season | Winners | Runners-up | Teams |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Rajasthan Royals | Chennai Super Kings | 8 |
| 2009 | Deccan Chargers | Bangalore Royal Challengers | 8 |
| 2010 | Chennai Super Kings | Mumbai Indians | 8 |
Performance of teams
| Team | Span | Titles | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | Win % | For (r/o) | Against (r/o) | Best | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chennai Super Kings | |||||||||||
| Deccan Chargers | |||||||||||
| Delhi Daredevils | |||||||||||
| Kings XI Punjab | |||||||||||
| Kolkata Knight Riders | |||||||||||
| Mumbai Indians | |||||||||||
| Rajasthan Royals | |||||||||||
| Royal Challengers Bangalore |
Player signings
The first players' auctions were held on 2008. The IPL placed icon status on a select few marquee Indian players. These players were Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, and Virender Sehwag. VVS Laxman initially named an icon player, later voluntarily opted out of his icon status to give his team (Deccan Chargers) more money to bid for players. For the second season, auctions were also held, but free signings taking place in the off-season by franchises led to calls for a draft-like system where the lowest ranked teams would be given a first opportunity to sign players.Television rights and sponsorships
The IPL is predicted to bring the BCCI income of approximately US$1.6 billion, over a period of five to ten years. All of these revenues are directed to a central pool, 40% of which will go to IPL itself, 54% to franchisees and 6% as prize money. The money will be distributed in these proportions until 2017, after which the share of IPL will be 50%, franchisees 45% and prize money 5%. The IPL signed up Kingfisher Airlines as the official umpire partner for the series in a Rs. 106 crore (approximately £15 million) deal. This deal sees the Kingfisher Airlines brand on all umpires' uniforms and also on the giant screens during third umpire decisions.Television rights
On 15 January 2008 it was announced that a consortium consisting of India's Sony Entertainment Television network and Singapore-based World Sport Group secured the global broadcasting rights of the Indian Premier League. The record deal has a duration of ten years at a cost of US $1.026 billion. As part of the deal, the consortium will pay the BCCI US $918 million for the television broadcast rights and US $108 million for the promotion of the tournament. This deal was challenged in the Bombay High Court by IPL, and got the ruling on its side. After losing the battle in court, Sony Entertainment Television signed a new contract with BCCI with Sony Entertainment Television paying Rs 8,700 crore (US$ 1.94 billion) for 10 years. One of the reasons for payment of this huge amount is seen as the money required to subsidize IPL's move to South Africa which will be substantially more than the previous IPL. IPL had agreed to subsidize the difference in operating cost between India and South Africa as it decided to move to the African nation after the security concerns raised because of its coincidence with India's general elections.20% of these proceeds would go to IPL, 8% as prize money and 72% would be distributed to the franchisees. The money would be distributed in these proportions until 2012, after which the IPL would go public and list its shares (But recently in March 2010, IPL decided not to go public).
Sony-WSG then re-sold parts of the broadcasting rights geographically to other companies. Below is a summary of the broadcasting rights around the world.
On 4 March 2010 ITV announced it had secured the United Kingdom television rights for the 2010 Indian Premier League. ITV will televise 59 of the 60 IPL matches on its ITV4 free to air channel.
| Winning Bidder | Regional Broadcast Rights | Terms of Deal |
|---|---|---|
| Sony/World Sport Group |  India | 10 years at Rs 8,700 crore (US$ 1.94 billion) (revised) |
| ONE HD |  Australia: Free-to-air HD and SD television. Owned by Network TEN. | 5 years at AUD 10-15 Million. |
| Sky Network Television |  New Zealand | Terms not released |
| PCCW |  Hong Kong: Broadcast on Now Sports. | 2 years, terms not released. |
| StarHub |  Singapore: Broadcast on Cricket Extra. | Terms not released |
| Astro |  Malaysia: Broadcast Astro Box Office Sport. | Terms not released |
| SuperSport | Central Africa  South Africa  Niger | Terms not released |
| Arab Digital Distribution |  United Arab Emirates,  Bahrain,  Iran,  Iraq,  Jordan,  Kuwait,  Lebanon,  Oman,  Qatar,  Palestine,  Saudi Arabia,  Syria,  Turkey,  Algeria,  Morocco,  Tunisia,  Egypt,  Sudan,  Libya,  Nigeria Broadcast rights on ADD's CricOne | 10 Years, terms not released. |
| GEO Super |  Pakistan | Terms not released |
| Willow TV | Rights to distribute on television, radio, broadband and Internet, for the IPL in North America. | 5 years, terms not released. |
| DirecTV |  United States: Exclusive broadcast rights on CricketTicket. | Terms not released |
| Asian Television Network |  Canada: Aired on Pay-per-view channel. Aired on XM Radio's ATN-Asian Radio as well. | 5 years, terms not released. |
| SportsMax |  Caribbean | Terms not released |
| ITV |  United Kingdom: Broadcast on ITV4. | Terms not released |
Sponsorships
India's biggest property developer DLF Group paid US$50 million to be the title sponsor of the tournament for 5 years from 2008 to 2013.Other five-year sponsorship agreements include a deal with motorcycle maker Hero Honda worth $22.5-million, one with PepsiCo worth $12.5-million, and a deal with beer and airline conglomerate Kingfisher at $26.5-million.
Revenue and Profits
The UK-based brand consultancy, Brand Finance, has valued the IPL at Rs 18,500 crore (US$ 4.13 billion) in 2010. It was valued at U$2.01 billion in 2009 by the same consultancy.There are disputed figures for the profitability of the teams. One analyst said that four teams out of the eight made a profit in 2009. While the London Times said that all but Kings XI Punjab made a profit.
In 2010, the IPL expects to have 80 official merchandising deals. It has signed a deal with Swiss watchmaker Bandelier to make official watches for the IPL.
Official IPL Mobile Applications
DCI Mobile Studios (A division of Dot Com Infoway Limited), in conjunction with Sigma Ventures of Singapore, have jointly acquired the rights to be the exclusive Mobile Application partner and rights holder for the Indian Premier League cricket matches worldwide for the next 8 years (including the 2017 season). Recently, they have released the IPL T20 Mobile applications for iPhone, Nokia Smartphones and Blackberry devices. Soon it will be made available across all other major Mobile platforms including the Android, Windows Mobile, Palm & others.Global following
In India, the IPL has become one of the most popular events of the year. In the first season, games were played every night (including weekdays) during Indian prime-time and were broadcast live. The IPL was the most watched TV program in India.IPL drew positive reactions from the rest of the world also. In Pakistan, the reception was described as "massive". Also, there was a huge following for Kolkata Knight Riders. The matches were telecast live in GEO Super. The matches also generated interest in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, despite only one Bangladeshi player being involved. The following in the subcontinental nations was aided by the prime time telecast of the matches as they belong to adjacent time zones.
IPL was also popular among the South Asian population in South Africa and England. The IPL did not garner much interest in Australia and New Zealand. However, in recent times the IPL has gained a much larger fan-base in these two countries.
Snap polls indicated that more than 48 million people watched the telecast of the IPL 2008 final between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, more than 40 million people saw the Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils match, whereas the second semi-final between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab attracted an audience of 29 million.
The third season of IPL saw interest rise dramatically in the United Kingdom. This was, in part, due to TV coverage switching to free to view channel ITV4. Previous editions of IPL were aired on the now defunct channel Setanta (pay to view channel), which entered administration in 2009. James Macleod stated, "We are delighted with the viewing figures for the IPL so far. The ratings for ITV4s coverage have been around seven or eight times those achieved by Setanta last year, and we're delighted to be bringing the competition to a wider audience". Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner of IPL, also expressed immense satisfaction on the way IPL has been accepted by the British audience. "ITV beats Sky Sports over the weekend in number of viewers. This is great going. The ITV numbers are double that of rugby league. This is huge by all imaginations. UK figures for viewership on ITV already 10 times that of last year. This is just fantastic news," he said.[34][35]
Rules
There are five ways that a franchise can acquire a player. In the annual auction, buying domestic players, signing uncapped players, through trading and buying replacements. In the trading window the player can only be traded with his consent. The franchise will have to pay the difference between the old contract price and the new contract price. If the new contract is worth more than the older one then the difference will be shared between the player and the franchise selling the player.Some of the Team composition rules are:
- Minimum squad strength of 16 players plus one physio and a coach.
- No more than 8 foreign players in the squad and at most 4 in the playing XI.For the 2009 edition franchises are allowed 10 foreign players in the squad. The number allowed in the playing XI remains unchanged at 4.
- As this is domestic cricket so minimum of 8 local players must be included in each squad.
- A minimum of 2 players from the BCCI under-22 pool in each squad.
- A difference to international cricket is a timeout. It gives the players an opportunity to strategise and take a drink during the strict 2 minutes, 30 seconds time limit. Each team is awarded two timeouts per innings totalling to four timeouts for the whole game. The teams can take the timeout when instructed, but is necessary to take it at the end of 9th and 16th over.
- IPL is also known for having commercials during the game, hence there is no time limit for teams to complete their innings. However, there may be a penalty if the umpires find teams misusing this privilege at their own choice.
Official website
The IPL negotiated a contract with the Canadian company Live Current Media Inc. to run and operate its portals and the minimum guarantee has been negotiated at US $50 million over the next 10 years. The official website of the tournament is www.iplt20.com.Incorporating popular forms of social media into the third season of the IPL, the website now contains a more holistic presence across all online mediums. The website apart from featuring new additions to empower user interaction, has encouraged a wider range of websites around IPL like IPL Tracker and IPL Mag amongst other more traditional reporting websites.
Statistics and records
Controversies
The BCCI had found itself in the middle of many conflicts with various cricket boards around the world as a result of the IPL. The main point of contention was that signed players should always be available to their country for international tours, even if it overlaps with the IPL season. To address this, the BCCI officially requested that the ICC institute a time period in the International Future Tours Program solely for the IPL season. This request was not granted at a subsequent meeting held by the ICC.Conflicts with the England and Wales Cricket Board
Because the inaugural IPL season coincided with the County Championship season as well as New Zealand's tour of England, the ECB and county cricket clubs raised their concerns to the BCCI over players. The ECB made it abundantly clear that they would not sign No Objection Certificates for players—a prerequisite for playing in the IPL. Chairmen of the county clubs also made it clear that players contracted to them were required to fulfill their commitment to their county. As a result of this, Dimitri Mascarenhas was the only English player to have signed with the IPL for the 2008 season.A result of the ECB's concerns about players joining the IPL, was a proposed radical response of creating their own Twenty20 tournament that would be similar in structure to the IPL. The league — titled the English Premier League — would feature 21 teams in three groups of seven and would occur towards the end of the summer season. The ECB enlisted the aid of Texas billionaire Allen Stanford to launch the proposed league. Stanford was the brains behind the successful Stanford 20/20, a tournament that has run twice in the West Indies. On 17 February 2009, when news of the fraud investigation against Stanford became public, the ECB and WICB withdrew from talks with Stanford on sponsorship. On February 20 the ECB announced it has severed its ties with Stanford and cancelled all contracts with him.
Conflicts with Cricket Australia
The BCCI also experienced run-ins with Cricket Australia (CA) over player availability for Australia's 2008 tour of the West Indies and CA's desire for global protection of their sponsors. CA had feared that sponsors of the IPL (and its teams) that directly competed with their sponsors would jeopardize already existing arrangements. This issue was eventually resolved and it was also agreed upon that Australian players would be fully available for the West Indies tour.Conflicts with the Pakistan Cricket Board
Many players from the Pakistan Cricket Team who were not offered renewed central contracts (or decided to reject new contracts) decided to join the rival Indian Cricket League (ICL). Two such players—Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed also held contracts with English Counties. The PCB decided to issue No Objection Certificates for these players to play with their county teams on the basis that since they were no longer contracted to the PCB, there was no point in not granting them their NOCs. The latter did not sit well with the BCCI, as it went against the hard line stance they had taken on players who joined the ICL.After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Pakistan government deemed it unsafe for its players to travel to India for the IPL. However, when the IPL was shifted to South Africa, the Pakistani players requested the IPL organizers and Lalit Modi to allow them to play but they refused by reasoning that the squads had already been decided and there was no room for Pakistani players.
Recently in the 2010 IPL auction nobody bid on any of the Pakistani cricketers, despite having expressed an interest in them therefore having them put on the auction list. Initially they said that the decision was purely based on cricket , Pakistani team had won the 2009 T20 World Cup. There was speculation that the Pakistanis might have been denied visas, so a team would waste money by recruiting them. After questioning, the IPL board members said that the reasoning behind none of the Pakistani players being selected was simply natural and unaffected by any outside influences.
