Indian Premier League Cricket
The Indian Premier League (also known as the “DLF Indian Premier League” and often abbreviated as IPL), is a Twenty20 cricket competition created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and chaired by the Chairman & Commissioner IPL, BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi. The first season of the Indian Premier League commenced on 18 April 2008, and ended on 1 June 2008 with the victory of the Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in the final at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.
As the second season of the IPL coincided with multi-phase 2009 Indian general elections, the Indian Government refused to commit security by Indian paramilitary forces. As a result, the BCCI decided to host the second season of the league outside India.All 59 matches of the second season, abbreviated as IPL 2, are taking place in South Africa. BCCI blamed the attitude of the UPA-led governments at the centre and in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for the decision.
2008 Indian Premier League
The 2008 Indian Premier League season was the debut season of the Indian Premier League, established by the BCCI in 2007. The season commenced on the 18 April 2008 with the final match held on 1 June 2008.
The competition started with a double round robin group stage, in which each of the 8 teams played a home match and an away match against every other team. These matches were followed by two semi-finals and a final. In a match which went down to the last ball, Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final to win the title,[2] with Yusuf Pathan named the player of the match and Shane Watson adjudged the player of the tournament.[3] Sohail Tanvir won the purple cap for being the top wicket-taking bowler while Shaun Marsh won the orange cap for leading run-scorer in the tournament. Shreevats Goswami was awarded the best under-19 player award and the special award for Fair Play was won by the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings.
Rules and regulations
Points in the group stage were awarded as follows:
Points Results Points
Win 2 points
No Result 1 point
Loss 0 points
In the event of tied scores after both teams have faced their quota of overs, a bowl-out will determine the winner, even in the group stage.
In the group stage, teams will be ranked on the following criteria:
1. Higher number of points
2. If equal, higher number of wins
3. If still equal, net run rate
4. If still equal, lower bowling strike rate
5. If still equal, result of head to head meeting.
Everything you wanted to know about the Indian Premier League
What is the Indian Premier League?
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a franchise-based Twenty20 competition organised by the BCCI, and backed by the ICC. It features the world’s best cricketers playing - their affiliation decided by open auction - for eight city-based franchises, owned by a host of businessmen and celebrity consortiums. The first season was from April-June 2008; the second season will be held between April 18 and May 24 2009 in South Africa, after organisers decided to move the tournament out of India for the year, as it clashed with parliamentary elections in the country.
Why has the IPL generated such a buzz?
Two main reasons why. One the football-club concept of the IPL, which is unlike anything cricket has known. The best players from across the world playing not according to nationality but according to market forces. Second, the sheer financial scale of the IPL is unprecedented at this level of cricket. The BCCI made close to US$ 1.75 billion solely from the sale of TV rights ($908 million), promotion ($108 million) and franchises (approximately $700 million). There are now ten players on contracts worth more than $1 million annually. It’s an entire cricket economy - and one unaffected by recession - out there. The total prize money for the first edition of the tournament was around US$3 million.
Who are the top cricketers involved?
Almost everyone who’s anyone in world cricket. The first season had Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Shoaib Akhtar, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar and Matthew Hayden participating. England went largely unrepresented but their two biggest stars, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, will play in the second season after they were each bought for US$1.55 million by Bangalore Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings respectively. Pakistan’s players will not be involved in Season 2, nor will Michael Clarke or Ricky Ponting, who have opted to focus on regular cricket.
Who are the franchise owners - celebrities and others?
Mukesh Ambani, the Reliance Industries chairman, acquired the Mumbai franchise for $111.9 million over a 10-year period; beer and airline baron Vijay Mallya, who also owns a Formula 1 team, won the Bangalore franchise for $111.6 million; Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment won the Kolkata franchise for $75 million; the biggest surprise was the Chandigarh franchise, which went to Preity Zinta, another Bollywood star, and Ness Wadia, together with two other industrialists, for $75 million.
The teams are: Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals (Jaipur), Bangalore Royal Challengers, Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad) and Kings XI Punjab (Mohali).
Mahendra Singh Dhoni emerged the most expensive player in the first IPL auction © AFP
How are the players paired with teams?
The first player auction, on February 20 2008, had franchises bid for a maximum of eight international players from a pool of 89. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were given ‘icon’ status by the BCCI - they represented the city in which they are based. A similar, truncated process was followed in 2009, with 17 players picked.
How did the player auctions pan out?
India’s ODI captain Dhoni and Australia allrounder Andrew Symonds were the big buys at the first auction in Mumbai, with the Chennai franchise buying Dhoni for US$1.5 million and Hyderabad bidding successfully for Symonds at US$1.3 million. India’s young stars Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and Manoj Tiwary together fetched nearly US$3 million. The auction for the second season was on a much smaller scale, with 17 players bought by the various franchises. Pietersen and Flintoff were the most popular buys, and among the relatively newer faces, JP Duminy was snapped up for US$950,000 by Mumbai Indians, and Tyron Henderson by Rajasthan Royals for US$650,000. The surprise package was Mashrafe Mortaza, who was bought for a whopping US$600,000 by Kolkata Knight Riders.
Who are the IPL coaches?
The IPL has lured some of the top names in the business; the first season had three Australians, one South African and one New Zealander as coaches. Kolkata roped in former Australia coach John Buchanan and Mohali signed up former Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, while Delhi recruited Victoria coach Greg Shipperd. Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe was the big surprise in Bangalore - he was replaced by South Africa’s Ray Jennings for the second season - and Chennai bagged former South Africa captain Kepler Wessels. Hyderabad had India’s fielding coach Robin Singh in 2008 and will have Darren Lehmann in 2009, while Jaipur have Shane Warne as captain and coach. Mumbai Indians have named Shaun Pollock as the team’s mentor-cum-advisor and Pravin Amre as assistant coach.
Whose idea is the IPL?
The IPL is the brainchild of Lalit Modi, the vice-president of the BCCI, and is modeled along the lines of club football in Europe, specifically the English Premier League. Though there is a school of thought that the idea came about in the 1990s, the announcement that such a tournament would happen, and which it would be a precursor to Twenty20 Champions League, cricket’s version of the European Champions League, came only after Subhash Chandra, the owner of Zee Televison said, in April 2007 - soon after India’s exit from the World Cup - that he was intending to start an unofficial tournament called the Indian Cricket League, fuelling speculation that is was a reactive idea rather than a proactive one.
How different are the IPL and ICL to each other?
The IPL is an official sanctioned Twenty20 tournament, and unlike the ICL, which is not recognised by any of the national boards or the ICC, it will have a better status, international reach, players, and the requisite infrastructure by default. Since the IPL is sanctioned by the ICC, players don’t have the danger of bringing their international/first-class careers to a halt - as is the case with the ICL - whose players have been banned by the various boards. Another major difference is with regard to franchises - the ownership of the team rests with the individual owners and not one single entity.
How the teams stack up
Bangalore Royal Challengers
When the team rosters were fixed last season, many commented on how the Bangalore squad was in stark contrast to the flamboyant image of its owner Vijay Mallya. A ‘Test batting line-up’ comprising Rahul Dravid, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jacques Kallis and Wasim Jaffer now has a limited-overs sheen with the induction of Kevin Pietersen, New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder and local boy Robin Uthappa. Although Bangalore sold Zaheer Khan, they are boosted by the availability of Nathan Bracken, injured through the first season. However, like Pietersen, he might be available only for a limited period. Though the attack will be led by Dale Steyn, there are a few doubts over Bangalore’s ability with the ball. Anil Kumble is unlikely to play and Praveen Kumar is their only current India international on the flat tracks of the subcontinent.
Probable XI: 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Kevin Pietersen/ Ross Taylor, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Jacques Kallis/ Cameron White/ B Akhil, 7 Mark Boucher/ Shreevats Goswami (wk), 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Sunil Joshi/ KP Appanna, 10 Nathan Bracken/Vinay Kumar, 11 Dale Steyn.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The big boost for Kolkata is the availability of explosive New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum - who scored the most famous Twenty20 century in last year’s tournament opener - for the whole season. Chris Gayle was unfit last time around and Kolkata will bank on his all-round abilities to help them build early momentum before he leaves for national duty. Mashrafe Mortaza, a popular signing at the auction, could find it hard to fill Umar Gul’s shoes but Ajantha Mendis could be their ace. Ishant Sharma flopped last season but he has vastly improved his skills for the limited-overs game in the past year. Also in the mix are local lad Ashok Dinda, who impressed last season, and former India internationals Ajit Agarkar and Murali Kartik, one of the key bowlers in Middlesex’s successful Twenty20 campaign.
While Ricky Ponting and allrounder David Hussey may be called on for national duty, fellow Australians Brad Hodge and Moises Henriques, the young New South Wales allrounder, will fill the breach. Cheteshwar Pujara, considered by many to be an India prospect, could well be a value addition.
Probable XI: 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Chris Gayle/Brad Hodge, 3 Sourav Ganguly, 4 David Hussey/ Moises Henriques, 5 Cheteshwar Pujara, 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 Laxmi Shukla, 8 Murali Kartik, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Ajantha Mendis.
Deccan Chargers
They finished bottom last season but their moves this time don’t inspire much optimism. Deccan’s batting woes were well documented - Shahid Afridi, Herschelle Gibbs and Scott Styris failed to make an impact - but their bowling was the weakest in the competition. RP Singh was unable to repeat his ICC World Twenty20 heroics, while Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa posed little threat. This time, Deccan brought Fidel Edwards and another West Indian, the allrounder Dwayne Smith, having signed Australian allrounder Ryan Harris before the auction. Edwards is quick but he can be an expensive gamble in the Twenty20 format. Good news for Deccan will be left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha’s impressive tour of Sri Lanka with India.
In the batting department, only Adam Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao performed well last season. Deccan will be keeping close tabs on Andrew Symonds. If his exclusion from the Australian side is prolonged, Symonds could be available for the entire season, a much-needed boost for the side. Whether VVS Laxman, who was replaced as captain, will be a regular in the team this year remains to be seen.
Probable XI: Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 D Ravi Teja, 3 Andrew Symonds/Herschelle Gibbs, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Venugopal Rao 6 Dwayne Smith/ Scott Styris, 7 Sanjay Bangar, 8 Pragyan Ojha, 9 Chaminda Vaas/Nuwan Zoysa/Fidel Edwards, 10 RP Singh, 11 DP Vijaykumar.
Kings XI Punjab
Punjab, semi-finalists last season, are largely sticking to the line-up that helped them succeed last year. Their only signings this season are West Indies fast bowler Jerome Taylor and England allrounder Ravi Bopara. Opener Shaun Marsh could be away on duty for Australia and that would be a concern for Punjab, with Brett Lee and James Hopes also set to miss out. They bid frantically for Mortaza, perhaps to ensure having a bowler available for the entire season. A surprising fact that emerged at the auction was that Ramnaresh Sarwan was not on a three-year contract with Punjab - he remained unsold at this auction. What could be worrying, though, is the form of Sreesanth, whose fortunes too have been on the wane since he picked up an injury during the tournament last season. Punjab’s Indian bowlers had done the trick last season, and their team could suffer if that is not the case this time.
Probable XI: 1 Shaun Marsh/ Luke Pomersbach 2 James Hopes/ Sunny Sohal, 3 Kumar Sangakkara/ Uday Kaul (wk), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Ravi Bopara/ Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Tanmay Srivastava/ Sohal 7 Karan Goel 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Sreesanth, 11 VRV Singh/ Brett Lee.
Chennai Super Kings
Imposing is the word that best describes Chennai’s squad after the second auction. A team modelled around Mahendra Singh Dhoni now has the inspirational Andrew Flintoff - commanding a higher salary than Dhoni - and Matthew Hayden is also available for the full tournament. Hard-hitting allrounder Albie Morkel, Man of the Series in Australia recently, is another of the team’s key players, and the embarrassing wealth of talent shows in the fact that Michael Hussey, Muttiah Muralitharan and Jacob Oram have been overshadowed. Flintoff bolsters the bowling while Sri Lankan left-armer Thilan Thushara could be the dark horse among the foreign recruits. Chennai’s third signing at the auction was Tasmanian batsman George Bailey, but he is unlikely to feature given the team has consistent performers in Suresh Raina and S Badrinath. Another big plus is that barring Flintoff and Hussey, all their foreign recruits are available for most of the season.
Probable XI: 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Michael Hussey/ S Vidyut, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 5 S Badrinath 6 Albie Morkel, 7 Andrew Flintoff/ Jacob Oram/ Joginder Sharma, 8 Manpreet Gony, 9 L Balaji 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Makhaya Ntini/ P Amarnath.
Delhi Daredevils
Delhi no longer have Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Asif, but their line-up is even more dangerous this season because of David Warner and the England duo of Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood. Delhi have reason to be pleased with their homework before the Goa auction; their scouts had been lurking around Australia and they have brought in potential impact players. Warner’s sensational Twenty20 international debut against South Africa whet the appetite and there are other hopefuls from Australia in allrounder Andrew McDonald, who too debuted for Australia after joining Delhi, and left-arm fast bowler Dirk Nannes, an out-and-out Twenty20 specialist.
Dirk Nannes is a handy addition to a formidable Delhi Daredevils pace attack © Getty Images
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are undoubtedly the most potent opening combination in the tournament, while Glenn McGrath and Daniel Vettori bring the experience to the bowling. The likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik have been in good touch so far this year. With most of their foreign players free for tournament, the only headache for Delhi could be getting their XI right.
Probable XI: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Tillakaratne Dilshan/ Owais Shah, 4 Manoj Tiwary/ David Warner, 5 AB de Villiers/ Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Rajat Bhatia/ Paul Collingwood, 7 Daniel Vettori 8 Amit Mishra/ Ashish Nehra, 9 Farveez Maharoof/ Yo Mahesh, 10 Dirk Nannes/ Pradeep Sangwan, 11 Glenn McGrath.
Rajasthan Royals
The inaugural champions managed to work out a winning formula under the guidance of Shane Warne, and expect more of the same this year too. Their Indian players were not the best of the lot, but Warne turned them into a formidable unit, and found two highly successful foreign recruits in Sohail Tanvir and Shane Watson. Tanvir is unavailable and Watson doubtful due to Australia’s schedule and fitness worries, but Rajasthan have found adequate replacements at the auction. Shaun Tait is tailor-made for Twenty20, capable of short bursts of quick bowling, and Tyron Henderson, one of the surprise picks at US$650,000, has been highly successful for Middlesex. It will be a tall order to match Watson’s heroics from last season, but Henderson is an impact player in this format. The team will also be boosted by the availability of Morne Morkel and Justin Langer. Both missed the inaugural edition due to their commitments with English counties.
Dimitri Mascarenhas could also fill in as an allrounder but Rajasthan’s main worry would be Graeme Smith. His might undergo surgery on his elbow after Australia’s visit to South Africa, which could put his IPL participation in doubt. Nonetheless, the champions have proven themselves with lesser-known names.
Probable XI: 1 Graeme Smith/Niraj Patel/ Justin Langer 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 Mohammad Kaif,, 4 Shane Watson/ Tyron Henderson/ Dimitri Mascarenhas 5, Yusuf Pathan, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Mahesh Rawat (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Shaun Tait/ Morne Morkel, 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel.
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai made three buys in the auction. JP Duminy was snapped up for a whopping $950,000, while Mohammad Ashraful could be a steal for the Twenty20 format at $75,000; in between, fast bowler Kyle Mills, who will help compensate for the missing Shaun Pollock. Zaheer Khan, on current form, is a vital addition to cover up for the South African’s bowling skills. In another swap, Mumbai sold Ashish Nehra and brought in Delhi’s Shikhar Dhawan, a move to compensate for Uthappa’s departure. Dwayne Bravo, a successful replacement player for the team last year, was given a permanent deal. Two other key signings also came before the auction. They are limited-over specialists from the English county circuit, allrounders Graham Napier and Ryan McLaren - a Kolpak player South Africa wanted to get back after their ODI losses in England last year.
The team has three Sri Lankans in Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando, all of whom are available for the entire tournament. Mumbai were unlucky last time to miss Sachin Tendulkar, who was injured, and Harbhajan Singh - banned for his infamous slap - for the bulk of the tournament. If they manage to get it right, they would perhaps be able to do justice to Mumbai’s tag of domestic giants.
Probable XI: 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 & 5 Dwayne Bravo/ Ryan McLaren/ JP Duminy/ Graham Napier, 6 Abhishek Nayar, 7 Yogesh Takawale (wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Lasith Malinga/ Dilhara Fernando/ Kyle Mills.
This article documents a current sports-related event. Information may change as the event progresses.
2009 Indian Premier League
Logo of the DLF Indian Premier League
Administrator(s) BCCI
Cricket format Twenty20
Tournament format(s) Double round-robin and Knockout
Host Flag of South Africa South Africa
Participants 8
Official website
2009 Indian Premier League season
The 2009 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 2 or the 2009 IPL, is the second season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament is hosted by South Africa and is scheduled between 18 April and 24 May 2009.[2] IPL 2 is expected to be the second biggest cricket tournament in the world, after the Cricket World Cup,[3] and will have an estimated television audience of more than 200 million people in India alone.
Concerns were raised in India that the tournament was the prime target of terrorists. Because the second season of the IPL coincided with multi-phase 2009 Indian general elections, the Government of India refused to commit security by Indian paramilitary forces. As a result, the BCCI decided to host the second season of the league outside India.[6] On 24 March 2009, the BCCI officially announced that the second season of the IPL will be held in South Africa.
Though India is not hosting the second season, the format of the tournament remains unchanged from the 2008 season format.[8] According to Lalit Modi, chairperson of IPL, all the 59 matches of the second season will take place per schedule and an IPL official said that England and South Africa were initially being considered the front-runners to host the league. South Africa was chosen as the venue primarily due to concerns over England’s weather
Relocating the tournament will pose extreme logistical challenges for the BCCI since more than 10,000 cricketers and other staff members will be flown from India to South Africa within a span of a few weeks. The IPL is expected to inject approximately US$100 million into South Africa’s local economy.In addition, the BCCI signed a Rs. 8,200 crores (US$1.63 Billion) contract with Multi Screen Media to broadcast matches live from South Africa to India.
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