Cricket is not just a sport for India; it is India’s religion with no hate and IPL is that festival in the religion which makes us wait throughout the year. 2023 is the 14th edition of IPL. Let’s get into the love the fans have for it.

IPL was started in 2008 by the Bcci and the format was T20. Back in 2008, the number of teams was only 8 which has increased. The current number of teams is 10.

In 2008 the Teams were:

1.  Mumbai Indians

2 . Chennai Super Kings

3 . Royal Challengers Bangalore

4 . Delhi Capitals

5 . Sunrisers Hyderabad

6. Rajasthan Royals

7 . Kolkata knight riders

8 . Punjab Kings

For the 14th edition, the names of the Teams are:

1. Chennai Super Kings

2. Delhi Capitals

3. Gujarat Titans

4. Kolkata Knight Riders

5. Mumbai Indians

6. Lucknow Super Giants

7. Punjab Kings

8. Rajasthan Royals

9.  Royal Challengers Bangalore

10. Sunrisers Hyderabad

In the first season of IPL, Rajasthan Royals won the trophy while Mumbai Indians won the IPL title maximum times.

Back in 2022, the number of viewers of IPL was 500 million while in the previous year, it was 400 million. So, it is clear that the viewership is increasing significantly and the revenue of IPL is also increasing with the increasing viewership.

In 2008, BBCI generated 111 crores and in 2023 BCCI generated 48,390 crores from media rights only. Viacom 18 who has bagged the media rights of IPL, is expecting 3700 crores of revenue from it.

According to sources, Viacom 18 has already made 320–380 crores from advertisements which are huge. IPL not only has a huge fanbase but also has a perfect combination of glamour, advertisements and great skilled cricket.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the IPL celebrations stopped in 2020 and the announcement of resuming this has left the audience happier and more thrilled. According to a loyal fan of KKR, “It is the relief in that tough year”.

Indian Premier League

A storm on social media: Social Media is not just a medium for communication anymore. It is controlling our minds and lives and in 2022 the social media trend ranking of IPL was higher than FIFA World Cup even. The 14th edition is also ranking high on social media, creating super hype among fans.

However, some fans are calling it the most anticipated league in Indian cricket history.

A pan Indian festivity: This cricket league unites the whole country and beyond the country as well. So, it’s become a pan Indian festivity. Fans not only engage in watching matches but also support their teams on social media and they buy their merchandise to convey their love.

New way of business: In the previous part of this article, I have shown how BCCI is making money out of IPL. But that’s not all. Franchises are selling their merchandise which includes replicas of jerseys, caps and so on. At the same time, they are making revenue through ticket selling during these matches which is helping the economy as well. Hence, it is not about cricket mania, it is about the economy boosting.

Festivity with some dark sides to it: IPL is one of the festivities of India and the cricket world and it does not need any more glorification. However, there are some dark factors behind it as well.

The first blow came into the limelight in 2011 with a charge of molestation and harassment and Gabriella Pasqualotto who was a cheerleader of IPL filed it. She also came up with a serious charge of facing racial harassment and sexual abuse as well. BCCI paid serious attention towards it and took a drastic step to ensure the safety of cheerleaders as well and this culture was banned in IPL.

Another big slam in the IPL was not using young talent and kept assigning legends by IPL teams. This factor was totally against the idea of IPL and after the intervention of BCCI, this issue got resolved as well. Ravi Bishnoi and Devdutt Padikkal got the chance to prove their talents.

The next big blow came at the IPL in the year 2013 and the charge was match fixing. S Sreesanth, Ankit Chavan, and Ajit Chandila git banned from IPL. although the issue of match fixing made a huge impact on the image, however, as the BCCI took the right step at the right time, the image was restored. The BCCI did not stop at banning the players alone, the BCCI banned two giant teams from IPL for two years and the teams were Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals and restored the authenticity of the league.

How it rose to fame: On 13th September 2007 on the winning of the T20 World Cup, BCCI announced a franchise based T20 competition and it was named the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was first placed in April 2008 and it started with a grand ceremony in New Delhi.

Lalit Modi was the vice-president of BCCI at that time and decided the whole format, prize money, rules for the teams, revenue distribution etc. in a nutshell, Lait Modi framed the whole IPL.

Some important details about IPL:

1.The format of IPL is T20 format.

2. The administrator of IPL is the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)

3. Inaugurated in 2008

4. The latest edition is the 14th edition of 2023

5. The highest run has been scored by Virat Kohli (6624)

6. The highest number of wickets has been taken by Dwayne Bravo (183)

7. Gujarat Titan won the last year’s IPL title (2022)

8. Mumbai Indian has won the highest number of IPL titles (5 times)

To decide the franchises the first auction was conducted on 24th 2008 and the total base money was $400 million. At the end of the auction, the names of the winning bidders were announced and they used some of the city names as their team names and the names of the cities were  Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali, and Mumbai. The franchises were sold for the price of $723.59 million and with it, the new era of Indian cricket started.

Final words

Although IPL has faced many controversies and issues, however, our love for cricket, the dedication of the players and the effort of  BCCI managed to keep it going and I know you guys are cricket fanatics as I am and it is the best time of the year for us. So, let’s wait for more to enjoy the IPL matches.

The post IPL Festive of India appeared first on realsprinters.