The Indian Premier League (IPL) is being considered as the latest and one of the biggest revolutions in Indian Cricket. The IPL is a tournament that follows the Twenty20 format and is being run and managed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). A large number of corporate houses are associating BCCI as the sponsors of this mega tournament, with DLF being the title sponsor. The BCCI Vice President, Mr. Lalit Modi, is the Chairman and Commissioner of IPL. The BCCI inaugurated the IPL on 18th April, 2008 in Bengaluru with a view to bring more excitement in Indian Cricket and also to present this new version of Cricket to the Indian Cricket enthusiasts in a big way. The tournament is mainly played on a double round-robin league and knockout format and the winning team gets a huge amount of prize money.
The unique thing about the Indian Premier League is that, here the teams are run and managed by various corporate houses or the celebrities from different sects of the society. The owners of the teams have to go through a bidding procedure to buy the teams and after that, the cricketers are also put on auction. The managements of the teams take part in the auction and bid for their desired cricketer, with a view to make their team the strongest one among all others. All the cricketers from around the world, including the Indian cricketers are put on auction. The BCCI has actually followed the format of England`s most popular football event, the English Premier League (EPL) for governing the rules and regulations of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The idea for conducting a tournament like the IPL was conceived by Lalit Modi, Vice-President of the Board of Cricket Control for India. The Indian Premier League commenced on 18th April 2008. The interesting T20 tournament was preceded by an impressive opening ceremony. The tradition still continues. An opening ceremony marks the start of the IPL each year. At the first season 59 matches were scheduled to be played. In 2009 the IPL was back with its second season. However, this time it was held in South Africa. In 2010, IPL returned to India.
Players in IPL
There are a few marquee Indian Cricketers, who have been bestowed upon with the `icon status` by the BCCI. The players are Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag. Though, the legendary Indian Cricketer VVS Laxman was initially given the `icon status`, he voluntarily opted out of this status for his team. The players with icon status are given the best offerings on behalf of the teams and they usually play for the state from where they belong to. While, Sachin plays for Mumbai Indians and Sourav for Kolkata Knight Riders, the players like Rahul Dravid (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Yuvraj Singh (Kings XI Punjab) and Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils) also play for their respective state teams. However, Sourav Ganguly has not been lucky this time as his name did not elicit any bid.
Teams in IPL
Initially eight teams participated in the first edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the teams were Delhi Daredevils, Deccan Chargers, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Rajasthan Royals. But in March 2010, two more teams were announced who would be participating in the 2011 IPL matches. These two teams were Pune and Kochi. Although several bids were placed, the management picked up the two highest bidders.
