The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a league tournament based on the T20 format. Ever since its inception in 2008, the tournament has been one of the most successful events across all sports and is the leading cricketing league in the world. The tournament is directly governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The participating teams in the IPL are similar to that of football cubs, where players from different nationalities find themselves in the same team. These players are bought in an auction by the franchise who are given a certain salary. It is within this salary that they need to purchase the best possible team. The contract of each player is usually for one year.
The format of the IPL follows a grouped round robin which later progresses towards the playoffs and an eventual knockout. The rules suggest that there must be no more than four overseas players in a playing XI. When an entire squad of 25 is considered, then teams are not permitted to have more than 8 overseas players.
Strategic timeouts of 2.5 minutes are held twice per innings. It is given once each for the batting and the fielding side. The introduction of the impact player rule in 2023 has added more spice to the IPL’s entertaining matches.
The IPL has witnessed a total of 15 teams. Out of these, five are now defunct: Deccan Chargers, Pune Sahara Warriors, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants.
The ten active teams are: Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Gujarat Titans, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lucknow Supergiants and Punjab Kings.
The player who scores the maximum runs in the tournament is presented with an Orange Cap. The player who takes the maximum wickets in the tournament wins the Purple Cap. A Fair Play Award is also awarded to the team who plays the entire tournament in the best spirit of the game. Other awards like Most Valuable Player, Emerging Player Award and Maximum Sixes Award are also handed at the end of the tournament.
Mumbai Indians are the most successful franchise in the history of IPL with five titles. The next most successful teams are Chennai Super Kings (4) and Kolkata Knight Riders (2). Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans have won one title each. Virat Kohli holds the record for the maximum runs scored in IPL (over 6900). Dwayne Bravo holds the record for taking the maximum wickets (183).
