The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India.

It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), headquartered in Mumbai,[3][4] and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Chirayu Amin, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner. It is currently contested by 10 teams consisting of players from around the world. It was started after an altercation between the BCCI and the Indian Cricket League.[5] In 2010, IPL became the first sporting event ever to be broadcast live on YouTube in association with Indiatimes.[6] Its brand value is estimated to be around $3.67 billion in fourth season.[7][8] According to global sports salaries review, IPL is the second highest-paid league, based on firstteam 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 $3.84 million.[9]

Contents
[hide]

1 History o 1.1 First season o 1.2 Second season o 1.3 Third season o 1.4 Fourth season 2 IPL Trophy o 2.1 2008-2010 o 2.2 2011-2013 3 League organization o 3.1 Franchises o 3.2 Rules 4 Statistics and records o 4.1 Winners o 4.2 Performance of teams o 4.3 Player signings 5 Television rights and sponsorships o 5.1 Television rights o 5.2 Sponsorships o 5.3 Revenue and Profits o 5.4 Mobile applications o 5.5 Official website 6 Global following 7 See also 8 References

[edit] History

[edit] First season

Main article: 2008 Indian Premier League

A Chennai vs Kolkata match at the M.A. Chidambaram Cricket Stadium won by Chennai Super Kings. 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.

[edit] 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 same as the inaugural one. Deccan Chargers, who finished last in the first season,were big underdogs, but came out as eventual winners defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final. Deccan set a target of 144 with the help of Gibbs(53) and defended it.

[edit] Third season

Main articles: 2010 Indian Premier League and 2010 IPL Player Auction 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, Deccan Chargers did not play at their preferred home location of Hyderabad, India due to the ongoing political crisis in the Telangana 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.

[edit] Fourth season

Main articles: 2011 Indian Premier League and 2011 IPL Player Auction

Chennai Super Kings are the most successful team in the tournament winning the championship twice and qualifying for the top four every time. On 21 March 2010, it was announced in Chennai that two new teams from Pune and Kochi will be added to the IPL for the fourth season. 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. On 5 December 2010, it was confirmed that Kochi will take part in the fourth season of IPL.[10] The addition of teams representing Pune and Kochi was to have increased the number of franchises from 8 to 10. The BCCI originally considered extending the tournament format used in previous season to ten teams, which would increase the number of matches from 60 to 94. Instead, the round-robin stage of the tournament was to have been replaced by a group stage with two groups of five, limiting the number of matches to 74.[11] But this format was replaced by another one in which each team would play 5 other teams in a two-way round robin format and there would be 2 teams against whom they would play only at home and remaining 2 teams against which they would play only away matches.Thus each team plays 14 matches.Top four teams would qualify for the semi-finals. In October 2010, the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab had their franchises terminated for breaching ownership rules. The new Kochi franchise was also issued a warning to resolve all their ownership disputes.[12] Two months later both teams were finally allowed to take part in the 2011 edition after a court ruling.[13] Chennai Super Kings won their second consecutive IPL title after defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 58 runs in the fourth season of IPL.[14] CSK had beaten RCB in the playoffs too while RCB defeated Mumbai Indians to reach the final. This is the first time a franchise has won two IPL titles, had four consecutive semi-final visits, come to the finals three times, and

successfully defended their title. The top three teams namely CSK, RCB and MI have also qualified for the Champions League. Chennai Super Kings are the current Champions League Twenty20 champions.[15]

[edit] IPL Trophy

[edit] 2008-2010
The diamond-encrusted trophy of DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) Cricket was designed by Orra brand, owned by Antwerp-based Rosy Blue Group. It comprises a player in a gold leafing. He is shown holding a bat in his hand, next to a map of India. On the map, the names of all the IPL teams have been engraved by rubies. It took a team of as many as 14 craftsmen to make the trophy. Every year, the winners of the IPL T20 tournament are presented with a replica of this trophy, along with the prize money.

[edit] 2011-2013
A new trophy has been designed for IPL 4 in view of the two new teams which are now in the fray. It has been changed to a large cup instead of a map of India.

[edit] League organization

[edit] Franchises
The winning bidders for the eight franchises were announced on 24 January 2008.[16] While the total base price for auction was US $400 million, the auction fetched US $723.59 million.[17] 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.[18] The second franchise auction fetched total $703 million. Team Name City Inception Owner(s) Mukesh Ambani (Owners of Reliance Industries) Vijay Mallya (UB Group) T.Venkatram Captain Head Coach Robin Singh Ray Jennings Darren

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai

2008

Sachin Tendulkar Daniel Vettori Kumar

Royal Challengers Bangalore Hyderabad Deccan

Bengaluru Hyderabad

2008 2008

Chargers

Chennai Super Kings Delhi Daredevils

Chennai New Delhi

2008 2008

Kings XI Punjab

Mohali

2008

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata

2008

Rajasthan Royals

Jaipur

2008

Pune Warriors India Kochi Tuskers Kerala

Pune Kochi

2011 2011

Reddy Sangakkara Lehmann (Deccan Chronicle) group India Cements Mahendra Stephen (N.Srinivasan) Singh Dhoni Fleming Virender Greg GMR Group Sehwag Shipperd Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta, Dabur, Adam Michael Apeejay Gilchrist Bevan Surendera Group Red Chillies Gautam Dav Entertainment Gambhir Whatmore Emerging Media (Lachlan Shane Shane Murdoch), Warne Warne Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra Subrato Roy Yuvraj Geoff Sahara Singh Marsh Kochi Cricket Mahela Geoff Private Ltd Jayawardene Lawson

[edit] 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.[19][20] 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.[21] Some of the Team composition rules are:

Minimum squad strength of 16 players plus one physio and a coach. No more than 10 foreign players in the squad and maximum 4 foreign players should be in the playing eleven. 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.

Some of the differences to international Twenty20 cricket:

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 from 6th to 9th and 13th to 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.

The total spending cap for a franchisee in the first player auction was US $5 million. Under-22 players are to be remunerated with a minimum annual salary of US $20,000 while for others it is US $50,000. The most expensive players in the IPL to date is Gautam Gambhir of India fetched the highest price of $2.4 million from Kolkata Knight Riders at the auction for season 4

[edit] Statistics and records

Main article: List of statistics and records of Indian Premier League

[edit] Winners
Season 2008 2009 2010 2011 Winners Rajasthan Royals Deccan Chargers Chennai Super Kings Chennai Super Kings Runners-up Chennai Super Kings Royal Challengers Bangalore Mumbai Indians Royal Challengers Bangalore Teams 8 8 8 10

[edit] Performance of teams

No Spa Title Match Wo Los Win For (r/o) Against Wors Team Resul Best n s es n t % (r/o) t t Champions Semi Chennai 2008 4,752 / 4,475 / 2 63 36 25 2 58.07 (2 Super 574.4 569.1 2011 Consecutive) finals Kings 2008 4,637 / 4,694 / 8th Deccan 1 59 24 35 0 40.67 Champions 580.2 582.4 of 8 Chargers 2011

2008 Delhi Daredevil 2011 s 2008 Kings XI Punjab 2011 Kolkata Knight Riders Mumbai Indians 2008 2011

56

28 28

50.00

4,219 / 524.5 4,251 / 531.1 3,602 / 491.3 3,977 / 505.3 4,289 / 554.2 4,263 / 587.3

4,330 / 547.0 4,274 / 529.1

Semi-finals

10th of 10 8th of 8

56

27 28

49.10

Semi-finals

52

23 28

45.19

Play3,585 / Offs(Eliminat 8th 459.3 or - 4th of of 8 10) 3,898 / 523.1 4,213 / 564.2 4,521 / 574.5 Runners-up 7th of 8 7th of 8 7th of 8 9th of 10 8th of 10

2008 2011 2008 Rajasthan Royals 2011 Royal 2008 Challenge rs 2011 Bangalore Pune Warriors 2011 India Kochi Tuskers 2011 Kerala

60

33 26

55.00

55

29 25

53.63

Champions

58

29 29

50.00

Runners-up

14

33.33

1657/227 1739/237 .3 .4 1901/256 1989/260 .2 .4

9th of 10

14

42.86

8th of 10

[edit] Player signings

Main articles: 2008 Indian Premier League#Player auctions, 2009 Indian Premier League#Preseason trades and signings, and 2010 IPL Player Auction 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.[22] 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.

[edit] 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 106 crore (US$23.64 million) (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.[23]

[edit] 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.[24] 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.[25] 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 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 in March 2010, IPL decided not to go public).[26] 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.[27] On April 1, 2011, Rogers Sportsnet announced that it signed a four year exclusive deal in Canada to broadcast 36 group stage matches, 3 playoff matches and 1 championship match on Rogers Sportsnet One.[28] Winning Bidder Sony/World Sport Group The Times Group Regional Broadcast Rights Terms of Deal 10 years, 20082017 at 8,700 crore (US$1.94 billion) (revised)[24] Global Rights to distribute on

India

Worldwide

GEO Super Pakistan (20082010) Sri Lanka Rupavahini Sri Lanka Corporation: Channel Eye Network Ten Australia: Free-to-air HD and SD television. Owned (2008) One HD (2009 by Network TEN. 2010) Sky Network New Zealand Television (2008 2010) PCCW StarHub Astro Hong Kong: Broadcast rights on Now TV. Singapore: Broadcast rights on Cricket Extra. Malaysia South Africa, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, So Tom and Prncipe Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar,

broadband, mobile and radio. 4 Years 20112014, Terms not released.[29] Terms not released. Terms not released. 5 years, 2008 2012 at A$10-15 million.[30] Terms not released. 2 years, 20102011 terms not released. Terms not released Terms not released.

SuperSport

10 Years, 20082017 terms not released.

Arab Digital Distribution

10 Years, 20082017 terms not released.[31]

Saudi Arabia, Tunisia,

South Sudan, Sudan, Turkey & Yemen

Syria,

Broadcast rights on CricOne ITV (2010) Setanta Sports (20082009) SportsMax Rogers Sportsnet One (2011 present) Asian Television Network (2008 2010) ATN-Asian Radio (2008 present) United Kingdom: Broadcast on ITV4. Caribbean 4 Years 20112014, Terms not released. Terms not released

Canada: Exclusive broadcast rights.

4 years, 20112014 terms not released.

Willow TV (20082010)

United States

Rights to distribute on television, radio, broadband and Internet, for the IPL in North America. 5 years, 20082012, terms not released.[32] Terms not released.

NEO Cricket (2011-) Dish Network (2008, 2011-) DirecTV (20082010)

United States

[edit] Sponsorships
India's biggest property developer DLF Group paid US$50 million to be the title sponsor of the tournament for 3 years from 2008 to 2010.[33] Other 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.[34]

[edit] Revenue and Profits

The UK-based brand consultancy, Brand Finance, has valued the IPL at $4.13 billion (Rs 18,998 crore) in 2010.[35] It was valued at U$2.01 billion in 2009 by the same consultancy.[36]

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.[37] While the London Times said that all but Kings XI Punjab made a profit.[38] In 2008, Kolkata Knight Riders is the most expensive team followed by the Mumbai Indians but unable to make it into the semifinals despite being the favourite. 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.[39] According to a recent study by a UK-based brand valuation consultancy, the brand value of the IPL has more than doubled to USD 4.13 billion (over Rs 18,000 crore) from USD 2.01 billion in 2009.[40] The franchises have been a part of this growth. Mumbai Indians has emerged the most valued franchise in 2010. The MI franchise has moved up the ladder with a valuation of USD 57.13 million.Chennai Super Kings have a brand value of USD 70.16 million which places them at the top of the table. The Kolkata Knight Riders co-owned by Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan comes in fourth with a valuation of USD 46 million and the Rajasthan Royals, co-owned by Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty comes in last with USD 33.78 million. The Royal Challengers Bangalore, owned by Vijay Mallya, is ranked third with a valuation of USD 47.58 million and is followed by the, Delhi Daredevils (USD 40.85 million) and Kings XI Punjab ( USD 33.75 million). The Deccan Chargers are at the sixth with a valuation of USD 38.76 million.[7] Rank Franchise Brand Value 1 Chennai Super Kings $ 70.16 m 2 Mumbai Indians $ 57.13 m 3 Royal Challengers Bangalore $ 47.58 m 4 Kolkata Knight Riders $ 46.00 m 5 Delhi Daredevils $ 40.85 m 6 Deccan Chargers $ 38.76 m 7 Kings XI Punjab $ 35.75 m 8 Rajasthan Royals $ 33.78 m

[edit] 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[when?], 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.[41]

[edit] 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.[42] 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 [1] and IPL Mag [2] amongst other more traditional reporting websites.

[edit] Global following

The third season of the IPL saw interest rise dramatically in the United Kingdom, due in part to telecasts being moved from the subscription-based Setanta Sports to the free-to-air ITV4. James Macleod stated, "We are delighted with the viewing figures for the IPL so far". Lalit Modi, then Chairman and Commissioner, 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.[43][44]

IPL good or bad for cricket?

I have come across number or people who are criticising IPL without actually giving me any logical explaination for it. I was wondering what do our fellow BC members have to say about the inaugural IPL event? The way I see it (though most of my friends didn't see it that way), IPL is in primitive stage and they are trying to arrange an agreement with ICC so that no ICC matches conflict with IPL which would put to rest what most people think IPL is doing: in plain english taking away players and preventing them from representing their own country. Second criticism is that India is monopolising cricket. True but it's a business and those have the means to exploit the resources will. Unfortunately, there's no room for sympathy, in business. Also, if you look at all major sports, international matches are not played that often and it is the franchise based leagues that rule these sports. In all major sports international events are dominated by few countries just like in cricket. In soccer, African nations don't complain that EPL, Series A, Bundes Liga, etc monopolise the sport because stars from African nations are getting the money as well. To me it looks like cricket fell behind from other major sports by sticking to playing this many international games in a season and can probably catch up to other sports by having something like IPL. I mean BCCI and I did it because they can do it as most of the other cricketing nations don't have the monetary capacity to invest in cricket nor the interest to do it. I hate watching ICC matches because there's hardly any matches that goes to full 50 in ODIs or to last over in tests. Obviously I watch Bangladesh's games and teams I like because of the players I like but if you put all the stars together for a league event it makes for a better game. As I found out through talking to my friends, most people don't welcome changes even if it can bring positive changes. I mean my Idea may sound very radical but even if the IPL wanted to

have test matches against the individual teams I would welcome that too just because the quality of cricket is going to be better than watching Australia and SA dominate against all other countries for the most part. Getting aside from my radical ideas to people I've talked to don't realize that this as a 5 week tournament only! There will still be plenty of ICC matches but IPL if is successful lesser known players from other countries even from Canada for instance could have a chance to earn a decent living from cricket. IPL matches will be watched by people from all cricketing countries which it itself is good for the sport and is not the case for ICC matches unless it's a big event like world cup. Of course India will benefit from this but so do other franchise based leagues. NBA, NHL, etc which include players from all over the world but USA, Canada benefit the most because they are able to leaders in those sports but players from other countries who would make less money by playing in their own country appreciate these leagues because of the level of competition, money and they are better able to develop their games with proper coaches, nutrition programs, and have the privilege to learn the game from the best players in the world with whom they may be playing or opposing. 20/20 in general allows them to compete with and against some of the best players in a format that is designed to be fun and competitive. ICC matches results with ever growing technology and coaching depend on how good rich is the infrastructure, cricketing structure, coaching, facilities, etc are of a country to develop cricketers who can compete at the highest level. In other words there's a strong positive correlation with or how much money is spent on cricket (or generally speaking GDP) and how good of a test playing country is. Srilanka is perhaps the only exception and their rise in cricket to me can be attributed to having good coaching and cricketing structure. However, in a franchise based system those things will be there for every team thus, the result will depend on performances on the field only because theoretically all other things are equal. I think these matches will also be closely contested given that most teams have star players in all aspects of the game so as a fan of cricket I will be interested in those which is why I will support IPL. My favourite team is Mumbai. I'm a big Tendulkar fan.