I Saw IPL Grow

Things were very different before IPL (Indian Premiere League). Before IPL, as a school kid, I used to play carroms, do my holiday homework or watch movies and other stuff on T.V. on my summer vacation.  But, all of these things changed when the Indian Premier League came into existence, my playing, studying & other stuff did not collide with the IPL match timings.

Before IPL, I had in my mind that football is for counties or club format (e.g. English Premier League, La Liga, etc.) and cricket is for International matches, but, IPL changed my perception about it and I am sure it also changed the thinking of the people all over the world.

Before IPL, there was the mighty Australian Cricket team which won almost every match, they played. But things did not remain the same after IPL. Now, there is no one team which dominates the international cricket matches like they (Australia) did. At this time, you would see ICC ODI rankings keep changing and there is always more than one at the no.1 spot throughout a particular season.  The competitiveness and innovation in the IPL had a role in this change in the world cricket.

IPL caught most of the eyeballs when the IPL auction happened for the first time, and, the involvement of film stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Juhi Chawla made it more in the news.

In the year 2008, a few days before IPL was going to start, it was all over the news channels, newspapers and the advertisement boards all over India.


I still remember the day when I was eagerly waiting for the first ever match of the IPL between Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) & (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and there was a marvelous opening ceremony which included the introduction of the captains of their respective teams. Then, there was a pledge of MCC spirit of cricket taken by the captains. There was a delay in the match but it was worth the wait as KKR’s Brendon McCullum scored IPL’s first century and my favorite team Kolkata Knight Riders won.

It was great to watch a tournament where young domestic players were playing with popular international players different cricket playing nations and the greater thing was that the domestic players were playing very well against the international players.

Before IPL, I had not seen any cricket tournament which had different awards for the bowling, batting, and fielding. IPL initiated the appreciation of batting and bowling performances with an “orange cap” and a “purple cap” respectively. After the end of every match, they give prize-money for “hitting maximum sixes “ in that match and “best fielding” in that match with the same prize-money as that of the “Man of The Match”. This kind of appreciations made IPL so many levels up than the other cricket tournaments.

IPL made the game more exciting and inspiring. In the first season, no one would have thought that a team like Rajasthan Royals would win the IPL. This team had only one player(Yusuf Pathan who only played the final of the world championship) from the 2007 World Champions Indian Cricket Team.  Spin legend Shane Warne was the coach as well as the Captain of the team who had retired from international cricket at that time. During the first season of the IPL, a friend asked me, “What do you think? Who is going to win this IPL?” then I told him,” I am not sure who is going to win it but Rajasthan Royals are definitely not going to win as the players in the team are not so popular.” Then I got a huge punch from Rajasthan Royals when they qualified for the semi-finals like a storm. This thing woke me up from the world of dominance and made me realize that it is not about the famous ones who make you cross the bridge but the ones who know how to cross it & has the belief of crossing it whether he/she is famous or not.

Another interesting thing about the IPL is that the team which finishes last in the points table in a season always does better in the next seasons. Its best example would be the team “Deccan Chargers”. This team finished last in the year 2008 but came as winners in the year 2009.

In the IPL, there would be always a domestic player who performs well in the IPL and gets considered for a place in the National team. Ravichandran Ashwin would be a good example. For his performance in the IPL, he was selected in the Indian National Team.

IPL also helped players who were struggling for a place in their national sides. Shane Watson’s all-round performance in the first season for the Rajasthan Royals got him a call from the Australian Cricket Team. It also did the same thing for Suresh Raina, Mitchell Johnson, and many other players.

It is awesome to be part of this awesome event “Indian Premier League” for all of these years. It feels great when I tell school kids about IPL from the first season till now.

At last, I want to say that I enjoyed this growth of IPL and hope to do it more in the future.

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