INDIAN PREMIER “CRICKET” LEAGUE (2009)

I am sure the whole world knows what the game cricket is all about. Ok, if in case, someone does not know, Cricket is a field game, which is played between two teams comprising of 11 players each, with a Wooden Bat and a Leather Ball. Both the teams have to score points “runs” and the one with more runs scored, is declared the winner of the match. I would not go into the nitty-gritties of the game cricket as it would take volumes. I would rather talk about a specific form of this game which is making news all over the world, these days. Not all nations of the world play this game but everyone across the globe, does watch it, if I am not wrong, on TV. There are three forms of the game cricket, namely, “Test Match”, which is played over 5 days between 2 Test Playing Nations, “The One Day Match” which is a limited 50 over match and ends in a day, “Twenty Twenty” or T20, where two teams play a match of 20 overs each.

Behold, this T20 form of cricket is what is doing the rounds these days. Haven’t we heard about Rushes of a film being more interesting than the whole movie? This explains the difference between the regular form of a Cricket Match and the Twenty 20 or T20. Most of us today have very little time and patience, thanks to our busy lifestyle. All we want is a quick entertainment package during our short breaks. The T20 format of Cricket is the result of just that thought: Quick Entertainment and Back to work. Now this T20 format was not as popular since its conception, than before 2008. Reason? Enter “Indian Premier Cricket League”. Let’s talk more about INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE and why is it so important and exciting.

I am sure most of us know about the English Premier League of football. We have so many English football clubs playing each other. But why is it so important to watch? Why is it an important and popular event? It is because the different clubs buy and contract world’s best footballers to play for them in this league. Imagine, won’t you pay fat cash to buy a ticket to watch a football game between two teams where stars like the Ronaldos, The Ballacks, The Ronaldinhos, The Beckhams, The Figos, et al feature?
Similarly, The Indian Premier Cricket League was established in the year 2008 which has 8 teams owned by franchisees and which is a plethora of shining stars of the Cricket galaxy around the world.

IPL and It’s Journey from Season1 to 2

The BCCI (Board of Cricket Contol India) owns the Indian Premier League as the parent body. Mr. Lalit Modi, the brainchild behind the inception of the IPL, is the Vice President of the BCCI and the Chairman of the IPL. The first season of the IPL was played between 18th of April 2008 and the 30th of May 2008. The current Champions are the “Rajasthan Royals” a team which boasts of players like Shane Warne (also the Coach), Shane Watson, Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan.
The IPL on one hand is the most popular cricket event of the world after the ICC World Cup, but on the other hand, it’s odyssey has been full of obstacles and controversies. Mr. Lalit Modi has been in the midst of several political controversies during the organizing of IPL2. There were security concerns as well for IPL 2 because of the clashing of the IPL calendar with the General Elections of India. This caused the shifting of IPL 2 venue to South Africa. Hence, the IPL 2 will now be hosted by South Africa and not India between 18th of April and 28th of May 2009.

Schedules and Rules:

There will be in all 59 matches played between 8 teams of IPL 2. The tournament has been designed in a manner where the teams will play 2 matches with each other team in a Round Robin scenario and the 4 teams on the top of the table will move into the Semi finals.

The IPL is the most expensive cricket tournament in the world with US$3million as prize money for the winner. More than that, the franchise owners are one of the most popular figures of corporate and entertainment India. Some of the famous franchise owners are Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla of Kolkata Knight Riders, Mukesh Ambani of Mumbai Indians, Ness Wadia and Preity Zinta of King’s XI Punjab and Vijay Mallya of Bangalore Royal Challengers. Citing that there is enough money to buy top players for their respective teams, the franchise owners have been regulated by certain rules laid by the BCCI and IPL commission regarding buying of players. These rules and guidelines limit the buying of foreign players to only 10 for each team (8 for IPL 1). There have to be a minimum of 8 local players included in the team. There have to be a minimum of 2 players chosen from the BCCI list of under 22 players in each team. Only 4 foreign players can be included in the playing eleven of a match.

Telecast and Coverage:

Sony Entertainment Television Network of India and World Sports Group based at Singapore have secured the global Telecast and Broadcast rights of the IPL for 10 years. They have further distributed the Broadcasting rights to different Media companies to Telecast and Broadcast the IPL into different parts of the world.

All in all, The Indian Premier League has eventually become a religion in India since the time of its inception. However, we need to sit and think that where the world is passing through difficult economic time, how good is it to spend money in millions in buying cricketers for mere entertainment? Anyways, since bad times do not last for ever, let’s sit back and enjoy a spectacular show of the World’s most sought after Cricket tournament, the IPL 2.

Linus Orakles
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