All About Indian Premier League T20 Cricket (IPL)

The Indian Premier League, created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and sanctioned by the International Cricket Council (ICC), is a Twenty20 cricket competition. It is the brainchild of BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi and is modelled along the lines of club football in Europe, which is unlike anything cricket has known in the past. The best players from around the world will not play according to their nationality but as per the market forces.

The first season of the Indian Premier League, also known as the DLF Indian Premier League, began on April 18, 2008, in Bangalore, and ended on June 1, 2008, with the victory of the Rajasthan Royals in the final at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.

The second edition of the cash-rich event was conducted in South Africa and was won by Deccan Chargers.

Popularity

It has shifted the viewership pattern of cricket as share of women, kids and younger audience increased over other formats. In India, top five states for IPL viewership were Gujarat, West Bengal, MP, UP and Delhi and the most popular teams were Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers, Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers.

Maximum team loyalty was seen in Bangalore followed by Chennai and Kolkata. According to Lalit Modi, the viewership of IPL 2 was 20 per cent more than the inaugural season. Broadcast partner SET MAX almost doubled its revenue compared to IPL 1.0.

However, in other cricketing nations, the response has been mixed. In Pakistan the reception was said to be massive, suggesting that it attracted even non-regular cricket followers. With the right mix of cricket and glamour, the high-octane drama, at one stage, seemed to be threatening Bollywood's popularity across the border.

A similar positive reaction was seen in Sri Lanka, with interest in the Mumbai Indians being large due to the presence of Sanath Jayasuriya. Bangladesh
has also reacted positively and with more players being drawn in the loos, the popularity will only grow.

South Africa saw a moderate viewership in the first edition but after hosting the second edition, there was 680% increase in viewership.

In the West Indies, the IPL became so popular that it threatened to overtake Test cricket completely among certain sections of fans. However, the event was less popular in Australia and in New Zealand it consistently won its free-to-air timeslot.

It's popularity was capitalised by the sponsors. According to an independent study conducted by Repucom research, there was 310% increase in Sponsor value.

What makes it so lucrative?

The sheer big money of the IPL is unprecedented at this level of cricket. It's an entire cricket economy out there.

The IPL is predicted to bring the BCCI income of approximately US$1 billion, over a period of five to ten years. All of these revenues are directed to a central pool, 40 per cent of which will go to the IPL itself, 54 per cent to the franchisees and 6 per cent as prize money. The money will be distributed in these proportions until 2017, after which the share of IPL will be 50 per cent, franchisees 45 per cent and prize money 5 per cent.

Who are the cricketers involved?

The event will have new set of players this time with some of England's top stars joining the bandwagon. Some of the Pakistan players will also make their way back into the tournament as they have been cleared by their board.

Some of the former rebel players have also been included in the auction list for the IPL 3. Players, who availed the BCCI amnesty scheme, will be able to play IPL 3.

All capped international players will have to go through an auction, which will be decided in consultation with the franchises. All new players have been divided into two categories - they will be played a maximum of 20 lakh and a minimum of 8 lakh.

What's the format?

Eight teams with 16 players in each squad.

Fixtures

In the first two editions, teams played each other twice in a round robin system, with equal number of home and away matches. The top four ranking sides progressed to the semi-finals. There were 59 matches in total However from 2010, there will 60 matches in total. An extra match will be played for the third place.

The third edition of the tournament kicks off in Hyderabad on 12th March 2010 with the opening match between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Apart from the eight venues - Mohali, New Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore - some more venues have been added as home venues for the Teams as they are in there catchment area.


Mumbai Indians - Will play a few matches in Nagpur
Deccan Chargers - Will play a few matches in Vishakhapatnam
Rajasthan Royals - Will play a few matches in Ahmadabad
Kings XI Punjab - Will play a few matches in Dharamshala

Strategic Time out

The strategic time out should in the following manner:

1 break of 2 1/2 minutes between over's 6-10 at the behest of the bowling team
captain

1 break of 2 1/2 minutes between over's 11-16 at the behest of the batsmen at the
crease.

The time-out should be mandatorily taken like the Power play that is used in ODIs

On request for the STO from the respective team, the Umpires will signal to indicate
the STO

Icon player status

In the Indian Premier League, an Icon Player was a player who could only play for his home city in the competition. Unlike all the other players involved, the icon players did not go through bidding. Each of the Icon Players were guaranteed to get paid at least 15 per cent more than the next top earner in their team, making them the highest paid player of the side.

But from 2010, all franchises have agreed to do away with the Icon Player status.

Skippers

Sachin Tendulkar for Mumbai Indians
Anil Kumble for Bangalore Royal Challengers
Sourav Ganguly for Kolkata Knight Riders
Kumar Sangakkara for Kings XI Punjab
Gautam Gambhir for Delhi DareDevils
Adam Gilchrist for Deccan Chargers
Shane Warne for Rajasthan Royals
MS Dhoni for Chennai Super Kings

What's an Orange Cap?

Taking a cue from other famous events like the Tour de France, the DLF Indian Premier League has announced the introduction of the Orange Cap, which would be worn by the batsman with the most cumulative runs to his name on each day of the event.

The holder of the Orange Cap at the end of the Twenty20 extravaganza will be honoured with the Winner of Orange Cap 2008 on the day of grand finale in Mumbai on June 1, the IPL said in a release.

The leader of the multi-stage gruelling cycle race Tour de France wears the yellow jacket at the start of each new stage to help identify the overall leader easily.

Purple Cap: This is awarded to the bowler with most cumulative wickets to his name. The holder of the Purple Cap receives recognition on the final day of the IPL. In the event of a tie at any given time, the holder will be determined by superior economy rate.

Rules

The official rules for the tournament are here:

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:

No more than 8 foreign players in the squad and at most 4 in the playing XI. From the 2009 edition franchises are allowed 10 foreign players in the squad. The number allowed in the playing XI remains unchanged at 4.

A minimum of 8 local players must be included in each team.

A minimum of 2 players from the BCCI under-22 pool in each team.

Who have got the title sponsorship rights?

Indian real estate developer DLF Universal secured exclusive rights to the Indian Premier League title sponsorship worth INR 200 crore (over US$50 million) for five years.

What are the franchises?

The magnitude of the Indian Premier League was confirmed when the winning bidders for the eight franchises were announced on January 24, 2008. While the total base price for auction was US$400 million, the auction fetched US$723.59 million. The official list of franchise owners announced and the winning bids were as follows.

Who are the franchise owners and what's the money involved?

Bangalore - Vijay Mallya/UB group - $111.6 million
Chennai - India Cements - $91 million
Delhi - GMR group - $84 million
Hyderabad - Deccan Chronicle - $107 million
Jaipur - Emerging Media (Manoj Badale, Lachlan Murdoch, Suresh Chellaram and investors) - $67 million. Last season, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and Dubai-based businessman Raj Kundra picked up 12 per cent stake worth over $11.6 million in the Rajasthan Royals franchise team.
Kolkata - Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta - $75.09 million
Mohali - Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia (Bombay Dyeing), Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group) and Dabur's Mohit Burman - $76 million
Mumbai - Mumbai Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited - $111.9 million.

2010-11 Expansion

After the success of the first season, it has been reported that four new franchises will join the IPL in 2010-11, increasing the total number of teams to 12.

Proposed Expansions for 2010-11 Season (4 new teams)

IPL Ahmedabad
IPL Kanpur

Any two from the following:

Patna-Ranchi joined franchisee
One team from the North-East
One team from the north-western states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarkhand

2012-13 Expansion

The unselected team from the three postulated for the 2010-11 expansion will be considered for another set of expansions in the 2012-13 season. An expansion of two more teams is expected for 2012-13.

Winners

2008 Winner - Rajasthan Royals
Runner Up - Chennai Super Kings

Even before the tournament began in 2008, everybody tipped some or the other team as the champion side. Little did many think the underdogs will walk away with the title. Rajasthan Royals did not boast of big stars with the exceptions of Shane Warne and Graeme Smith. Warne shepherded his young team in a manner that each one of them contributed in their success. In the final they took on MS Dhoni-led Chennai Suoer Kings only to emerge as the new kings of IPL.

2009 Winner - Deccan Chargers
Runner Up - Royal Challengers Bangalore

The second season of the T20 tournament was even more dramatic. The two bottom-placed teams of 2008 - Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers - went on to outperform everyone to set up a title clash. Adam Gilchrist-led Chargers prevailed in over Anil Kumble's boys to lift the trophy.

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