The Indian Premier League (IPL), the league that changed the history of professional sports in India, was founded in 2008. It is the highest-ranked professional league in India for 2020 cricket, with an average crowd of more than 30,000 people per game (better than MLB and NBA indoors), and the third highest paid professional league in the world.
The league has been in operation since 2008, and the IPL season generally runs from late March to April and ends in June. The current IPL championship team is Gujarat Titans, which won the 2022 season.
The 10 existing teams in the IPL are
- Chennai Super Kings
- Delhi Capitals
- Gujarat Titans
- Kolkata Knight Riders
- Lucknow Super Giants
- Mumbai Indians
- Punjab Kings
- Rajasthan Royals
- Royal Challengers Bangalore
- Sunrisers Hyderabad
Each team plays about 15 games (depending on the number of teams) in the regular season, and the top four teams play a playoff to determine the annual championship. In recent years, the playoffs have been double-elimination (third and fourth place in the regular season is considered one loss).
Since most of the 2020 league games in each country end within three months, and the leagues have a tacit agreement to stagger their seasons (February to March in Pakistan, July to September in the West Indies, December to February in Australia), most international stars play in multiple leagues. After all, the modern era is a time when talent flows globally. Many players and foreigners will move on to play in other leagues after the season is over. As long as the time doesn’t conflict, a few more paychecks are no big deal. However, India’s IPL is still the most stable and highest paying professional cricket league.
It is worth introducing a piece of history that 2020 cricket has had a league championship (similar to the Champions League or Club World Cup) – the 2020 Champions League, which was played from 2009 to 2014, with IPL teams winning four of the six championships (Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings). The IPL is a strong force in the international cricket world.
The biggest concern of the IPL so far is “spot-fixing”, both players and team owners have been involved in gambling. The most serious case of match-fixing broke out in 2013, involving the Chennai Super Kings, the league’s best-ever team (with a 100% success rate and seven championship appearances in eight consecutive years since its inception) and the Rajasthan Royals, both of whom were eventually suspended for two years.
However, the huge market is still supporting the IPL’s operation, and the 60 matches of this year’s season will surely be full.