Indian Premier League (IPL) is a Twenty20 cricket tournament where different franchise teams participate for the title. The tournament started in 2008 and from then it usually takes place every year in the months of April – June. The recent was the IPL-7 held this year (2014). It is currently supervised by BCCI Vice-President Ranjib Biswal, who serves as the League's chairman and Commissioner.[1] Sundar Raman has been the IPL chief operating officer (COO) since its first season, after he was appointed by former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi in 2008.[2] IPL is the most-watched Twenty20 cricket league in the world and also known for its commercial success. During the sixth IPL season (2013) its brand value was estimated to be around US$3.03 billion.[3][4] Live rights to the event are syndicated around the globe, and in 2010, the IPL became the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube.[5] It is currently sponsored by Pepsi and thus officially known as the Pepsi Indian Premier League.[6] Of the 11 teams to have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 2008, five have won the title: Kolkata Knight Riders (2), Chennai Super Kings (2), Rajasthan Royals (1), Deccan Chargers (1), and Mumbai Indians (1). The current champions are Kolkata Knight Riders, who won the title in the 2014 season. Currently there are eight teams. History[edit] IPL was inaugurated in 2008. During the same period Zee "Indian Cricket League" was operational. It was an enormous success. The annual tournament, played mostly in Indian summer has gone from strength to strength and is largely viewed as being the 'richest' tournament in world cricket. Until 2012, the Indian Premier League was sponsored by DLF after they paid $50 million for the five-year sponsorship. Pepsi took over the contract for the 2013 IPL after paying close to $72 million for the 5-year contract.[7] In 2008, Sony paid $1 billion for the broadcasting rights over a ten-year period. The IPL is watched across the world and in 2010 made history by becoming the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube. IPL Committees - Code of Behaviour Committee - Sanjay Patel, Ranjib Biswal, Amitabh Chaudhary, Ravi Shastri, Arindam Ganguly Technical Committee - Sanjay Patel, Anurag Thakur, Ravi Shastri, Ranjib Biswal, GR Vishwanath Entertainment Committee - Anirudh Chaudhry, Ranjib Biswal, Anurag Thakur, Chetan Desai Suspect Bowling Action Committee - Sanjay Patel, AV Jayaprakash, Javagal Srinath, S Venkataraghavan Governing Council (All office bearers of BCCI + Chairman and Finance Committee) - Ranjib Biswal, TC Mathew, Amitabh Choudhary, Chetan Desai, Nilay Dutta, Subir Ganguly, Ravi Shastri, GR Vishwanath, Arindam Ganguly, C K Khanna List of approved IPL venues across India - Barabati Stadium, Eden Gardens, Ferozeshah Kotla, JSCA International Cricket Stadium, M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium, Sardar Patel Stadium, Wankhede Stadium First season[edit] Main article: 2008 Indian Premier League This IPL was sponsored by DLF. The inaugural season of the tournament took place from 18 April – 1 June 2008. The group stages featured eight teams playing against each other twice on home and once away basis, with the top four progressing to the semi-finals. The final was played in DY Patil Stadium, Nerul, Navi Mumbai. The first winner of the tournament was Rajasthan Royals, who beat Chennai Super Kings in a match that went down to the last ball. Rajasthan's Shane Watson was named player of the tournament. Second season[edit] Main article: 2009 Indian Premier League The 2009 Indian Premier League season, also known as IPL 2, was hosted in South Africa because of the General elections in India and was played for 37 days from 18 April – 24 May 2009. Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final to take the title. (these two were placed 8th and 7th respectively in the standings of previous season). Third season[edit] Main article: 2010 Indian Premier League The third season returned to India and it was the first IPL tournament that was broadcast live on YouTube. The final four matches of the tournament were screened in 3D across theatres in India.Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians in the finals to win their first title. Fourth season: Debut of the Pune and Kochi teams[edit] Main articles: 2011 Indian Premier League and List of 2011 Indian Premier League personnel changes In 2011, two new teams, Pune Warriors India (PWI) from Pune and Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) from Kochi made their debut in IPL 4. However, the bid around the Kochi franchise turned controversial resulting in the resignation of minister, Shashi Tharoor from the Central Government. Later Lalit Modi was also removed from IPL chairmanship by BCCI. On 5 December 2010, it was confirmed that Kochi will take part in the fourth season of IPL.[8] The addition of teams representing Sahara's Pune Warriors India and the Kochi Tuskers Kerala have increased the number of franchises from 8 to 10. The format was changed where each team would play 5 other teams in a home-away format. Of the remaining, a team would play 2 at home and 2 away matches. Thus each team played 14 matches. Chennai Super Kings won their second consecutive title after defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 58 runs in the final.[9] Kochi Tuskers Kerala dissolved in this IPL season. Fifth season[edit] Main articles: 2012 Indian Premier League and List of 2012 Indian Premier League personnel changes The fifth season featured nine teams after the termination of the Kochi franchise. The players auction was held on 4 February 2012. Maximum number of players in each squad was increased from 30 to 33. A total of 76 matches were played from 4 April to 27 May.[10] Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings qualified for the playoffs. The final was hosted by Chennai on 27 May, where the Chennai Super Kings played against Kolkata Knight Riders. Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by 5 wickets. This edition of the IPL was the most competitive with 14 matches producing results in the very last over, and a couple in the last ball.[11][12] Towards the end of the league, it encountered many hurdles including a spot fixing case, which allegedly included five players caught on a sting operation carried by a news channel.[13][14] Sixth season: Pepsi replacing DLF as title sponsor and PWI dissolving[edit] Main articles: 2013 Indian Premier League and List of 2013 Indian Premier League personnel changes Pepsi replaced DLF as the title sponsor.[7] Nine teams have participated in the sixth season. The sixth season took place from 3 April – 26 May 2013. Deccan Chargers franchise was terminated by the IPL governing council which was later replaced by Sunrisers Hyderabad owned by Sun Group. Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad were the four teams in the league stage to qualify for the playoffs. Rajasthan Royals defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 4 wickets in the eliminator played at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi.[15] Mumbai Indians defeated Rajasthan Royals in the second qualifier and faced Chennai Super Kings in the Final. Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs for their first title win. Shane Watson was named man of the tournament. PWI dissolved on the same day. Seventh season[edit] Main articles: 2014 Indian Premier League and List of 2014 Indian Premier League personnel changes The league started from 16 April – 1 June 2014 and was hosted by both UAE & India. There are eight teams participating in 2014 Indian Premier League as Pune Warriors India was terminated. The auction of players for the seventh season of IPL took place on 13 and 15 February 2014 in Bangalore. For the second time after 2011 IPL teams were allowed to retain up to 5 players. 7 teams retained at least 2 players from the previous squad. After hosting the first part in the United Arab Emirates, the seventh edition of Indian Premier League returned to India on 2 May. Based on security demands for the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections the venues for some matches were shifted outside India. Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians were the four teams that made it to the playoffs. Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Kings XI Punjab by 28 runs in first qualifier to reach the final. Chennai Super Kings faced Kings XI Punjab in the second qualifier after defeating Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets in the eliminator, Kings XI Punjab defeated them by 24 runs to reach the finals.[16] In the finals held on 1 June,Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by 3 wickets, to become the winner of IPL 2014. This was the second IPL they have won.Orange cap was won by Kolkata Knight Riders's Robin Uthappa & Purple cap was won by Chennai Super King's Mohit Sharma. Glenn Maxwell was named Man of the Tournament. This IPL also ended the fact that the winner of the orange cap has never been in the side winning the tournament [17][18] League organisation[edit] Franchises[edit] The winning bidders for the eight franchises (or clubs) were announced on 24 January 2008.[19] While the total base price for auction was US$400 million, the auction fetched US$723.59 million.[20]Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers were the founding clubs of the new professional league.