Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

IPL

IPL (Indian Premier League 2019)

IPL Season 1: the season of Anticipation and Apprehensions

It’s been 11 years since, when the VIVO IPL season started, 2008 was the year when this new version of cricket started. The concept was new, as in this version we were about to see the rivals playing on the same team together. The entire season was thrilling enough to keep everyone on toes as the season ended with an ever exciting end, wherein people were stuck to the television till the last ball was bowled and the decision was out.

Here is what went so well which made this form of international cricket popular enough:

Auctions:

The auction of the inaugural season of IPL took place on 20th February 2008 in Mumbai.

The tone for upcoming IPL Match was already set in the auctions. With the giants of, both, corporate and entertainment world, for the first time in India, came together to bid on cricketing stars.

The franchises prior to the auction selected one Icon player for their team. All the Icon players were out of the bidding process. These players will play for the team representing their hometown. So, Mumbai Indians picked Sachin Tendulkar, Delhi went for Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly was chosen by Kolkata, Rajasthan selected Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh for Punjab.

The auction took place in eight rounds, with each round setting a new bidding record. The first round opened with a moderate bid of $ 450,000 on Shane Warne by Rajasthan Royals and ended with the highest bid of season one, $ 1.5 million, by Chennai Super Kings on MS Dhoni.

Mumbai Indian bid the highest in the second round and took home Harbhajan Singh ($ 850,000) and Sanath Jayasuriya ($ 950,000). In third Round, Deccan Chargers Hyderabad got Aussie all-rounder Andrew Symonds for $ 1.35 million. Bangalore selected Jacques Kallis ($ 900,000) and Chris Gayle ($ 800,0000) was lapped up by Kolkata in fourth. Dinesh Karthik was a surprise front-runner who was picked up by Delhi for $ 525,000.

The Terrific Venues and Teams:

The first season of Indian premier league comprised of 8 teams representing the various states and cities of India. The teams were owned by the various prominent personalities of entertainment and corporate world.
The teams were the perfect blends of national and international cricketing talent.

The teams included Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indian, Deccan Chargers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings. Each team contained a blend of international and national players.

Each team competing in the IPL has to maintain a prescribe player ratio. According to the rule, a team playing eleven should comprise of 7 national and 4 international players. The teams were managed by veteran cricket players like Shane Warne (Rajasthan Royals), John Buchanan (Kolkata Knight Riders) Kepler Wessels (Chennai Super Kings), etc.

The first IPL gave a much-needed platform for the young cricketing talent to show their potential to the Country.

BCCI invested a huge sum of money on various cricket stadiums and left no stone unturned in order to make the first season of IPL 2019 more thrilling and adventurous. With special committee formed just for reviewing different stadiums.

The main aim of BCCI was to give an unforgettable experience to the players and the crowd from all over the world.
The Stadiums were located in the 9 different locations of the country, Mohali, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Bangalore, and Kolkata, and had the capacity over 50,000 each.

Progression of League:

The league progressed with lots of hopes and anticipation, as the matches were new and the format was quite thrilling for a person who was used to watch rivalry cricket matches.

This was the very first time when people were enjoying and some realizing their dream come true. We also had witnessed people who had tears in their eyes when players from India and Pak playing together and taking the rival with all the sportsmanship.

It was a real pleasure and the format was quite thrilling to keep the viewer on its toes.

Awards & Recognition:

In the end, the season one of Indian premier leagues the players with exceptional skills and performance were honored.

These players were awarded in various categories like the orange cap category, purple cap category, Most Valuable Player, Emerging Player of the Year and Maximum Sixes.

The Majority of the awards during the first season went to international players.  

The orange cap is given to the player who has the most runs in the tournament. In 2008, the orange cap was given Shaun Marsh, who made 661 runs for his team Kings XI Punjab.

The leading wicket-taker is given the purple cap and it was given to Sohail Tanvir (Pakistan), with 22 wickets, of Rajasthan Royals. The batsmen with most numbers of sixes are given the Maximum Sixes Award and it was given to Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) of Mumbai Indians for his 31 sixes. 

Most Valuable Player or The Golden Player or Man of The Tournament was awarded to the player with best all-around performance and was given to Rajasthan Royal’s Shane Watson (Australia). Emerging player of the year award went to the Shreevats Goswami(India).         

Controversies Attached to Season 1:

The 1st season of IPL had its own share of controversies which involved being criticized by the political groups and feminists for bringing the culture of cheerleading in India.

The majority of the groups thought that cheerleading was against the spirit of the game and Indian sensibility. During season one, the dark-skinned cheerleaders were not allowed to enter the stadium compound by the management team of Kings XI Punjab. Both the cheerleaders, who were from the London, accused the management team of using racial slurs and dismissing them from the premises of the stadium without any justified reason.

IPL season one came into the news once again for the altercation between Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh.

The incident occurred after Harbhajan’s team, Mumbai Indians, lost their third consecutive match and both the players got into a verbal dispute in the stands. This resulted in Harbhajan Singh slapping Sreesanth under the eye.  

After the incident took place, Sreesanth was seen sobbing in the field during the presentation ceremony. This controversy was much highlighted by the Indian media. After a while, both Sreesanth and Harbhajan made amends in the front of the media.

You can call the entire series as dramatic as the climax of a movie, as people were found biting nails and leaving their important tasks to view the entire telecast of the match dumbstruck.

It was the most profitable time for people who make money via betting, the market of the illicit game was on the rise, and people went rags to riches in a matter of days. Do you think we missed something? Let us know, and we will bring in the same to you in the next edition.