Indian Premier League

Indian Premier League

Cricket has evolved into something very different compared to its beginnings. Thanks to this, it’s managed to grab the attention of a modern audience and keep its relevance.

The Indian Premier League – or the IPL – has only been around for a little over a decade, yet it has quickly become one of the most popular and lucrative cricket leagues out there. Every year, the tournament draws in millions of viewers from opening night to the finale.

However, cricket isn’t a new sport, so how did a cricket league only recently reach such popularity? There are, in fact, many contributors to the IPL’s success ranging from its unique brand of the game to India’s place in professional cricket throughout its history.

So let’s dive in and explore the IPL’s remarkable success story, how it came about, and what the future holds.

Cricket tips

History and Formation

During the 18th and 19th centuries, cricket was growing in popularity and placing its roots in British culture. Naturally, then, when the British were looking for a fun pastime, often they’d turn to cricket. This included soldiers, who spread the sport to many of England’s colonies, including India. Thus cricket became an international sport.

India in Commercial Cricket

In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup was hosted by England, introducing a new take on the game to save on time. This version was to be played in one day and limited the number of overs. The Cricket World Cup was when the sport started to become less and less “England’s thing” as its competitors saw a lot more success.

In 1983, the third edition of the Cricket World Cup was played, and the final match was between the West Indies – who had won both the inaugural and the second World Cup – and India. In an unexpected twist, overturning everyone’s expectations, with odds of a whopping 66:1, India won!

The following World Cup was hosted in India, the first to take place outside of England. This is where we begin to see cricket’s first shift to become more Asian-centred.

Twenty20

In the early 2000s, cricket was losing its English audience, so to try and attract more people, a new, even shorter, version of the game was created – Cricket Twenty20 (T20). This decreased the number of overs for each team to 20, and the game would last only 3 hours.

In 2007, the ICC World Twenty20 would take place for the first time. It’s hard to believe now, but India wasn’t too thrilled about the new format, nor were they too excited to compete in it.

However, India did make the finals, where they scored a surprise miracle victory over Pakistan to win the tournament. This was a euphoric moment for every viewer in India, and it switched the nation’s perception of the T20 format. Suddenly there was great interest in T20 cricket and great potential.








Formation of the IPL

Following the Indian team’s T20 World Cup win, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) launched a new T20 tournament called the Indian Premier League.

In January of 2008, an auction was held to decide the league’s owners, where the total base prices of the franchises were around $400 million. By the time the auction wrapped up, the founding franchises were bought for a total of $723.59 million. These franchises would be based in eight different cities:

The Mumbai franchise fetched the most money bought by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited for $111.9 million. The auction also managed to attract major Bollywood stars who would bag their own teams.

By the 18th of April, the tournament had its first-ever game – the Kolkata Riders facing off against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. In the following months, a series of 59 games were played, culminating with the Rajasthan Royals winning the title on the 1st of June.

The tournament surrounded the exciting new T20 format games with entertaining routines, dances, and many more kinds of spectacles. From its initial season, it was a massive success, became a prime-time tv product and the predominant thing in cricket.

In 2012 the Deccan Chargers were terminated due to having trouble finding new owners. After holding an auction, it was determined their replacement would be the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

League Structure

Auctions

Before the season begins, there is an annual player auction, where teams source in-demand players. The players set their base price at sign-up and are bought by the highest bidder. Unsold players may become replacement signings.

The IPL has a salary cap that limits the amount of money that can be paid to a squad and serves as cost control.

Game Format

The IPL usually has a round-robin format where teams play each other twice in home-away fixtures. Afterwards, the top teams move on to the playoffs, and the tournament takes on a knock-out format.

With its usual 8 teams, this means a total of 60 games per season. However, additions to the league have changed its structure in the past and will do so again in 2022.

Changes in Format

In 2011, the IPL introduced two new franchises – Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala. So as to not make the tournament too lengthy, a new format was introduced.

Franchises were split into two groups. Each team would play members of their respective group twice, while they would play 4 members of the other group once and one random team twice. This format had a total of 74 games.

The number of participating franchises went down to 9 in 2012 with the termination of Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Now the players would go back to playing each other twice in a total of 76 games.

With the withdrawal of Pune Warriors India in 2014, there were once again only 8 franchises, and the format went back to 60 games. It would stay this way until the 2022 season.

Playoffs

The first 2 seasons had only 59 games. After the round-robin phase, only two semi-finals and a final match were played. In 2010 a third-place playoff took place and starting 2011, the IPL format would regularly include three preliminary playoff matches: one eliminating and 2 qualifying games.

Financing

The IPL finances its member franchises through revenue-sharing central distributions. A significant monetary contributor to these is broadcasting deals. The IPL is the only cricket league to crack the top 20 most valuable media rights deals in professional sports.

Franchises receive a certain percentage of the income decided by an agreement they have with the BCCI. Between 2008-2012, the teams received 80% of the income. This reduced over the years, and in 2018, they received 50%.

Regardless, due to increasingly lucrative broadcasting deals, the money going into the IPL is larger than ever. Between 20 to 30% of a franchise’s revenues come from direct sponsorships.








IPL 2021

The latest season of the IPL was played in 60 matches from April to October of 2021. This year the Covid-19 situation worsened in India, and matches saw a lot of postponing. Multiple players tested positive for the virus, and some teams went into quarantine.

However, the BCCI and the franchises pushed through, and on October 15th, the finale took place. The Chennai Super Kings won over the Kolkata Knight Riders for their fourth IPL title.

IPL 2022

The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League will see two new teams join the competition – the Lucknow and the Ahmedabad franchises, that have yet to be named. Now, for the first time since 2011, 10 squads are vying for the title.

Not only that, but these new teams have brought a never-before-seen amount of money to the IPL. Noticing the enormous increase in brand value, cricket betting sites were quick to significantly raise their odds for the tournament.

Adding two teams also means the league will go back to the 2011 format, seeing teams split into two groups for 74 games in total.

The Future Of The Indian Premier League

Over a century after England introduced cricket to its colonies, a new form of the game has captivated millions. Even though most of its viewers are from India, the IPL has captivated plenty of international viewers and is changing the face of cricket.

Ever since its inception, the IPL has been a phenomenon. Just when it seemed as though cricket was dying out, the T20 tournament reignited the spark and became one of the highest valued leagues in all of professional sport, standing close to the ranks of the greats, such as the England Premier League and the NBA.

The upcoming 15th edition of the IPL added two brand new franchises, raked in insane amounts of money, and is surrounded by mountaintops of hype. Combining entertainment and fast-paced action, with new exciting changes, is sure to make for an unforgettable season.

The IPL is more trendy now than perhaps ever before, and it’s surely not going anywhere. A lot more good seasons are sure to be in store for viewers.