The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the professional Twenty20 cricket competition in India founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2008. The IPL typically attracts the best international players annually given its lucrative and competitive nature.
History
The IPL was founded by the Indian cricket board, the BCCI in 2007 with the first ever season that was played in 2008. It is the only cricket league in the world to now have a cricket window on the ICC Futures Tour Programme. With a brand value that runs into billions of dollars, the IPL is quite easily the biggest cricket in the world, and one of the top 25 sports leagues in the world by revenue - some of the others been played over 10 months in a year as opposed to the IPL which is played over just two months.
Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have both won the IPL title three times with the Super Kings having also been runner-up on four different occasions. Among other winners, the Rajasthan Royals won the title in the first season, beating Chennai in the final before Deccan Chargers were the 2009 winners against Royal Challengers Bangalore in season 2. Kolkata Knight Riders have won it twice while Sunrisers Hyderabad were other winners in 2016. Hyderabad had replaced the Deccan Chargers as one of the teams in the tournament when the latter failed to pay their bank guarantee.
Currently, the teams that feature in the IPL include
- Chennai Super Kings
- Mumbai Indians
- Delhi Daredevils
- Kolkata Knight Riders
- Kings XI Punjab
- Rajasthan Royals
- Royal Challengers Bangalore
- Sunrisers Hyderabad
Teams that had participated in the past:
- Rising Pune Supergiant
- Gujarat Lions
- Deccan Chargers
- Pune Warriors India
- Kochi Tuskers
The Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals returned to the IPL competition after having been suspended for two years and replaced the Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant. The Sunrisers Hyderabad finished the league stage of the tournament at the top of the table while Chennai, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals were the other sides to qualify for the playoffs. Defending champions Mumbai Indians bit the dust with six wins from the tournament, one short of making it to the playoffs.
Chennai made it to the final by beating Hyderabad in the first Qualifier before Kolkata knocked Rajasthan out in the Eliminator. This meant Hyderabad and Kolkata met yet again and a 3/19 from Rashid Khan helped the Sunrisers make it to the final by beating the Knight Riders in that game. In the final, the Chennai Super Kings chased down 179 to beat Hyderabad and win the title thanks to a Shane Watson century.
Kane Williamson finished the tournament as the best batsman, scoring 735 runs followed by Rishabh Pant (684), KL Rahul (684) and Ambati Rayudu (659). Among bowlers, Andrew Tye’s 24 was the best effort in the tournament which was followed by Rashid Khan, who grabbed 21, and Sid Kaul who did the same too. Umesh Yadav bagged 20.
Previous Winners
2008: Rajasthan Royals Beat Chennai Super Kings in the final
2009: Deccan Chargers Beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final
2010: Chennai Super Kings Beat Mumbai Indians in the final
2011: Chennai Super Kings Beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final
2012: Kolkata Knight Riders Beat Chennai Super Kings in the final
2013: Mumbai Indians Beat Chennai Super Kings in the final
2014: Kolkata Knight Riders Beat Kings XI Punjab in the final
2015: Mumbai Indians Beat Chennai Super Kings in the final
2016: Sunrisers Hyderabad Beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final
2017: Mumbai Indians Beat Rising Pune Supergiant in the final
2018: Chennai Super Kings Beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final
2019: Mumbai Indians Beat Chennai Super Kings in the final