6 years on, the IPL saga continues

IPL - These three letters are the dream of any aspiring young cricketer in this country of a billion plus. The Indian Premier League has created quite a stir since it came to existence in 2008.

It seemed as though it would give cricket that boost that it lacked at that time. Lalit Modi and his team did a great job and brought the best of world cricket to India. The best players from all the countries took part, and it was a great sporting extravaganza.

Rajasthan Royals were the winners in the inagural season

The first season took everyone by storm. From Brendon McCulum’s breathtaking 158 in the very first match to the unheralded Rajasthan Royals led by the flamboyant but controversial Shane Warne winning the inaugural Indian Premier League. The first edition brought prominence to many bright cricketers like Yusuf Pathan, Sohail Tanvir, Swapnil Asnodkar among others.

Deccan Chargers Lift Indian Premire League Season 2 Trophy

The second season too had its shares of brilliant moments. This time too a team led by an Australian, the Hydrebad Deccan Chargers led by the charismatic Adam Gilchrist, who finished last the previous season, won it. Rohit Sharma, Pragyan Ojha and RP Singh were the finds of the season for them. Rohit especially with his batting at the death overs combined with his intelligent bowling and his electrifying fielding, was certainly the best player that season.

IPL 3 Finals: Chennai Super Kings Beat Mumbai Indians

The third season saw the beginning of the dominance by the team in yellow. Yes, you’re right, it is the team from Chennai, the Chennai Super Kings. MS Dhoni and his boys were consistent right throughout the tournament, and won it quite deservingly. Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay formed a very lethal opening combination and Doug Bollinger and Chennai’s own Ravi Ashwin helped them to win the title.

The Kings in yellow continued their performances in season 4 although Gayle storm took everyone by surprise. They ended up winning it again and proved to be the best in the business. With the exit of Muttiah Muralitharan from CSK, it was Ashwin who shouldered the responsibility, and he delivered. Captain Cool MS Dhoni showed that he was the best in the business, and he helped the Super Kings to their second successive title.

IPL 5 Final: Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders

The fifth season proved to be a roller costed ride for the team from Kolkata. The Knight riders completely revamped their team and it paid off as the team led by the ‘Badshah of Bollwood’ Shah Rukh Khan won the title. The mystery spin of Sunil Narine combined with the economic bowling of his team mates and the fantastic batting of captain Gautham Gambhir and Jacques Kallis turned the tides to their favour.

In the final, the KKR found their newest hero as Manvindar Bisla brought the Cup to the Knight Riders by smashing an unbeaten 89 in the finals as he led them to a memorable win. Another person who is not often spoken about is Debabrata Das. He had made many a useful contribution that many people forget. His innings lower down the order were as important as the starts Gautham Gambir gave them.

Mumbai Indians

Then came about the sixth season. Although it ended with all the bad things one could expect. The team led by the legendary Ricky Ponting who would later hand over the captaincy to local lad Rohit Sharma ended winning it. This was the last season for the God, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. It was fitting that his team won the IPL for him. Impressive performances by Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik and the fiery Mitchell Johnson and ‘Slinga’ Malinga made sure that they won the IPL. Prayan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh also played useful contributions with their bowling. Kieron Pollard, with his humongous size often took catches that won them matches.

The season could’ve ended in better ways but what was destiny had to be destiny. From the Indian Premier league it became the Indian Paisa League. Well, now we have the seventh season coming up and there is much confusion in the right to match card.

Well, the right to match card is nothing but an insurance policy for a team. For instance, Delhi Daredevils haven’t retained any players can buy a player, say Kevin Pieterson and RCB buy him for 1.5 crores. Delhi could give the same amount and buy him. That’s it.

But what’s surprising is teams can just sell all their players, right? This is where strategy comes in place. Chennai could’ve just sold all their players. Even I thought so. The auction is going to be very, very important.

There are players like Glenn Maxwell, George Bailey who did very well in India with their national teams. Then there is Quinton De Kock and Faf Du Plessis. And the Indian bunch like Saurabh Tiwary, Manoj Tiwary and Kedhar Jadhav along with the under 19 lads Unmukt Chand, Baba Aparajith and Vojay Zol.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how this season of the worlds richest cricket league, the Indian Premier League is going to unfold. All eyes are on the wait for Feburary 12th, the day of the auction.

Until then, we’ll just wait and watch until the season unfolds.