How and Why Was the Indian Premier League Launched?

The Indian Premier League revolutionized the cricket landscape of India and has brought huge earnings to the entertainment industry as well. The T20 cricket became more prominent after India won the World Cup in 2007, which sparked better relations between India and the soon-to-be-launched IPL. Since then, their relationship has been mutually rewarding and beneficial, creating several tournaments, new stadiums, teams, and competitions.

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This article provides a brief history of the creation and launch of the Indian Premier League and all the processes involved.

The Rise of the Indian Premier League

Launched in 2008, the Indian Premier League has proved to be a very successful enterprise. It completely changed the game of cricket in the country and helped the already prominent game attain even greater levels of prominence. However, the creation, launch, and transition from the traditional cricket tournaments to the new version in India was not a problem-free one. The vice president of the BCCI was initially opposed to creating a Twenty format until it caught on after India’s T20 World Cup win in 2007.

It became a strategic decision by the BCCI to launch IPL to compete with the Indian cricket league. The competition followed the same dimensions as the English Premier League and the National Basketball League in the U.S.

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The Indian Premier League operates on a franchise system similar to the American format of hiring and transferring players. Every franchise was put up for auction, where the highest bidder claimed shares to own a team representing a city in India.

On January 24, 2008, the auction happened and recouped $723 million. At $111.9 million, the most expensive franchise was bought by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). Coming in second was $111.6 million for the Bangalore franchise bought by Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries.

The auction wasn’t without entertainment as two Bollywood stars acquired ownership of two teams. Shah Rukh Khan bought Kolkata for $75 million, while Preity Zinta bought the Mohali franchise for $76 million. The first edition of IPL had eight teams with at least 16 players each, with a tournament that went on for 44 days, involving 59 matches.

The 8 IPL First Edition Teams

Here are the first franchises ever to grace the Indian Premier League.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

If you’ve been following the Indian Premier League for a while now, you should be familiar with the Royal Challengers Bangalore. It is a popular team with Rahul Dravid as the captain and Venkatesh Prasad as its coach.

Kings XI Punjab

This is rated as one of the first edition teams with Yuvraj Singh as its captain and coach Tom Moddy. This team’s game pattern and success also put it as one to bet on every IPL season.

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings, like the name suggests, has been super in the league for a while now. It had Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain and Kepler Wessels as the coach.

Kolkata Knight Riders

When this team was the talk of the league, it had Sourav Ganguly as captain and John Buchanan as the coach. The captain and coach shared a good relationship evident in every player on the team.

Deccan Chargers

Another first edition IPL team worthy of mention is Deccan chargers. It has VVS Laxman as captain and Robin Singh as the coach.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians had Sachin Tendulkar as the captain and Lalchand Rajput as the coach.

Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils has Virender Sehwag as the team’s captain and Shipperd as the coach. It has a huge fan base that is always ready to support its team every match day, and for the players, this Spurs them to play better.

Rajasthan Royals

Shane Warne was named both the captain and coach of the Rajasthan Royals. It is a first edition team that features some of the game’s youngsters and makes the competition alive every time it participates.

The First and Last Matches in the First Edition of IPL

The first match of IPL was between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 18, 2008. The match had an engaging start, with the Kolkata Knight Riders taking the lead with 13 sixes and ten fours. Then, after 58 matches, Rajasthan Royals met Chennai Super Kings in the final at Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai on June 1, 2008. Chennai posted a challenging score of 163/5 from their 20 overs, but Rajasthan clinched victory on the match’s last ball.

On a different note, the first hat trick in the IPL was made by Lakshmipathy Balaji, dismissing Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, and VRV Singh as Chennai beat Punjab by 18 runs on May 10, 2008.

Conclusion

The first Indian Premier League edition showed that cricket was forever changed in the country. Its newfound entertainment, investment from corporate establishments, and some Bollywood glamour completely transformed how the sport was played. Forever, cricket will continue to attract the interest of many Indians, and more people will continue predicting the outcomes of games. Betting on cricket games in India gets better when you use the Parimatch welcome bonus.