IPL SEASON 10: Celebrating a decade of IPL

Dus Saal Aapke Naam

After a long home series, the focus of cricket buffs will now shift to the Indian Premier League (IPL) which is entering its 10th year. The past decade has been exciting and entertaining with nail-biting finishes and some promising players emerging out of the tournament. This year, IPL 2017, which begins on Apr.5, offers to be more exciting than the previous editions. Defending Champions Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on last year’s runner-up Royal Challengers Bangalore to set the ball rolling for the IPL-10 season at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

This Weekend Star Supplement celebrates the decade of the Indian Premier League which has given birth to some of the best T20 players in world.

By S.N. Venkatnag Sobers

Indian Premier League will enter into its 10th season when the coveted tournament kicks-off with last season’s winners Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on the runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Apr. 5.

The tournament has been a resounding success attracting players from all over the world including Afghanistan, who have just started their journey in international cricket. IPL, the brainchild of Lalit Modi, gave the cricketing world new stars who achieved great heights in their careers.

Indian Premier League got off to a perfect start with the then New Zealand wicket-keeper-batsman Brandon McCullum smashing 158 against hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The Hindi saying ‘Chotta Pack Bada Dhamaka’ proved to be perfect for the T-20 tournament.

IPL not only attracted players from all over the world but also the Hollywood celebs such as Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Juhi Chawla and business tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya showing interest in buying the franchises of various teams. The confluence of cricketers and entertainment industry was nothing but the celebration of the cricket on a different platform.

The tournament not only gave new cricket stars but it also inspired countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa and Sri Lanka to have their own T-20 leagues. Players such as Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and many others also earned their spots in the Indian team through IPL. The tournament became a platform for the unrecognised talented cricketers from Tier-2 cities like Mysuru to display their talents. Players such as J. Suchith, K.C. Cariappa, Shivil Kaushik and others have become an integral part of their respective teams through their performances.

The BCCI has also found itself in trouble with various conflicts and controversies related to the IPL. Be it the conflicts with various cricket boards across the world or the 2013 spot fixing, the IPL has been in news for both good and bad.

The IPL authorities had to face the wrath from the media for enforcing strict guidelines to media covering matches. Some of the restrictions included not to use images taken during the event unless purchased from an online company which had won the rights to such images and the prohibition of live coverage from the cricket grounds. Media agencies also had to agree to upload all images taken at IPL matches to the official website. This was opposed by print media around the world. The IPL authorities had to ease up on certain restriction after threat from the print media to boycott the event.

The suspension of Lalit Modi, the IPL Commissioner, on Apr. 25, 2010, triggered yet another controversy. The BCCI suspended Modi on charges of alleged acts of individual misdemeanours. Though, attempts were made to convince Modi to resign it failed as a result the Board had to restrict Modi from involving in meeting called by BCCI, IPL Committee or other committees.

The 2012 season witnessed US citizen Zohal Hamid accusing Luke Pomersbach of molestation. However, she later dropped the charges against him. But it was the spot fixing scandal that shook both the IPL and BCCI authorities. During, May, 2012 one of the private new channels aired a video which showed 5 players allegedly involved in spot fixing. Soon, Rajiv Shukla, the then IPL Commissioner, suspended five players T.P. Sudhindra (Deccan Chargers), Mohnish Mishra (Pune Warriors), Amit Yadav, Shalabh Srivastava (Kings XI Punjab) and Abhinav Bali, a Delhi cricketer .

Later, on May 2013, the Delhi Police, which was investigating into the case arrested three players Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila of Rajasthan Royals on charges of spot-fixing. On May 24, 2013, Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of the then BCCI President N. Srinivasan was arrested in Mumbai Crime Branch in connection with illegal betting. The Supreme Court instructed Srinivasan to step down as BCCI’s President to make way for free and fair investigations.

However, the charges against Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were dropped by a trial court in Delhi. The court’s decision, however, did not have an impact on the life bans imposed by the BCCI on Sreesanth and Chavan.

The two IPL franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were also suspended by Supreme Court for two years and were replaced by Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016. Both the teams will make a comeback during 2018 season. Though, the IPL has seen many scams and scandals, it yet continues to attract millions of fans who just get glued to their television sets or throng various cricket stadiums across the country to watch the most exciting cricket of all.

Sony Max, which is the broadcast partner of IPL released a special anthem ‘Das Saal Aapke Naam’ to mark the 10th year of the cricket carnival. The tittle song, composed by Salim-Sulaiman duo is sung by sung by Benny Dayal. So, fasten you seat belts and get set for the cricket dhamaka.

IPL SCHEDULE

Apr. 5 SRH vs RCB Rajiv Gandhi Intl. Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad 8 PM

Apr. 6 RPSG vs MI MCA International Stadium, Pune 8 PM

Apr. 7 GL vs KKR Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot 8 PM

Apr. 8 KXIP vs RPSG Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore 4 PM

RCB vs DD M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru 8 PM

Apr. 9 SRH vs GL Rajiv Gandhi Intl. Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad 4 PM

MI vs KKR Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai 8 PM