IPL and its impact

 IPL AND IT'S IMPACT 

The Indian Premier League, the biggest T20 cricket league in the World, now the 2nd most valuable league among all the Sports with $11 Billion valuation after NFL(National Football League) of USA with $18 Billion valuation has come a long way since its inaugural season in 2008. The first-ever IPL auction was held on February 20, 2008, in Mumbai and MS Dhoni was the most expensive player of the auction. February 20, 2024 marks 16 years since the first-ever IPL auction held way back in 2008 in Mumbai and we are all ready to witness the another blockbuster season of IPL starting from March 22.
            In 2007, Zee Entertainment Enterprises founded the ICL (Indian Cricket League).The ICL was not recognised by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) or the ICC (International Cricket Council), and the BCCI was unhappy about its own committee members joining the ICL executive board. To prevent players from joining the ICL, the BCCI increased the prize money associated with its domestic tournaments and imposed lifetime bans on any player joining the rival league, which the BCCI considered a rebel league.      

    
          On 13 September 2007 after India won the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa, the BCCI announced a franchise-based Twenty20 cricket (T20) competition called the Indian Premier League(IPL). The first season was scheduled to start in April 2008 with a "high-profile ceremony" at New Delhi. Lalit Modi ( then the Vice President of BCCI) had wanted to start an NBA-style sporting event, for cricket, in India, so he gave the idea of IPL where there will be Indian and International players playing together in the same team, with high salary and high revenue.
             From the very first match of IPL in 2008, it was known that it was going to be a blockbuster league when the NZ star player Brendon McCullum smashed 158 Not Out of just 73 balls in the KKR vs RCB match. Since then numerous records have been created in the IPL. With MI and CSK the most successful teams with 5 titles each to most runs and most centuries by Virat Kohli to the highest individual score by Chris Gayle to most wickets by Yuzvendra Chahal and many more. The 2023 season witnessed something that was totally crazy, the love of CSK fans towards MS Dhoni their "THALA". It seems to be a 14 home game for CSK, where MS Dhoni goes the fans go with him to support in a large large number.
     IPL created a huge impact on the players and selection committee. It became the primary platform to select the players based on the performance for the National Team. International players and Domestic players both get a huge amount to play which also creates pressure on them to perform well for their team. In the 2024 auction Mitchell Starc was sold to KKR at a staggering amount of 24.75 Crores, the most expensive player in the IPL history. Currently there are 10 teams in the league which are owned by some or other celebrities or business persons. KKR owned by Bollywood Star Shah Rukh Khan, MI owned by Reliance company owner Mukesh Ambani, PBKS owned by Bollywood Actress Preity Zinta.
      Only 2 days are left for the 17th season of IPL so the next 2 months will be the Cricket Festival in India.