Pradeep Padgaonkar
Four days from today will decide the Champion of IPL 2024. With the last preliminary match being washed out due to rains Rajasthan Royals lost the opportunity to gain a second spot with an outright victory. The league stage of the tournament concluded after 70 matches and the decisive playoff stage starts today.
Having secured the top position, Kolkata Night Riders (KKR) will fight Sunrisers Hyderabad (SH) on Tuesday while Rajasthan Royals (RR) will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Wednesday. The finals are fixed for 26th May.
Though RR look favourites,
RCB may create history by opening an account. This IPL, Bengaluru side had won only once in the first 7 games and were a single defeat away from officially being knocked out of the race for the playoffs, but came from behind to qualify. Chennai Super Kings, who won the 2023 season, are out of the race.
The Indian Premier League is a men’s Twenty20 cricket league held annually in India. Founded by the BCCI (the Board of Control for Cricket in India) in 2007, the league features ten city-based franchise teams. The IPL usually takes place during the summer, between March and May each year.
A team can acquire players through the annual player auction, trading with other teams during trading windows, and signing replacements for unavailable players. Players sign up for the auction set their base price and are bought by the highest-bidding franchise. Player contracts run for one year but can be extended by one or two years if the franchises take up the option.
Till now, 16 IPL seasons have concluded. Chennai Super Kings (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023) and Mumbai Indians (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020) have won the tournament five times each. Kolkata Knight Riders (2012, 2014) have won twice while Rajasthan Royals (2008), Deccan Chargers (2009), Sunrisers Hyderabad (2016), and Gujarat Titans (2022) managed to make their presence feel once.
Orange Cap is awarded to the highest run-scorer at the end of each season. It is an ongoing competition with the current highest-run scorer wearing the cap whilst fielding. Australian batsman David Warner has won the award three times, more than any other player.
The Purple Cap is awarded to the highest wicket-taker at the end of each season. The bowler who is the leading wicket-taker wears a purple cap whilst fielding. The eventual winner keeps the cap for the season. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dwayne Bravo are the only players to have won the award twice.
IPL also brought a bad name to the whole idea as many times the teams, players and management were found to be indulging in malpractices bringing disrepute to the tournament. In 2008 Harbhajan Singh, who was playing for Mumbai Indians, slapped S. Sreesanth after a game. The IPL fined and banned him from the remaining entire edition. However, years later, he apologized to Sreesanth for it on TV. In 2010, the BCCI banned Ravindra Jadeja from the IPL for one year after he violated the IPL guidelines by not signing a renewal contract with his team Rajasthan Royals, and instead negotiated a more lucrative contract with other teams through the back door. In the 2012 IPL spot-fixing case, the BCCI gave a lifetime ban to Deccan Chargers player T. P Sudhindra and suspended four other players. In the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting case, Delhi police arrested players Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan and S. Sreesanth on allegations of spot-fixing; they received a lifetime ban from the BCCI.
The Lodha Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court of India, banned Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for two years. The CSK’s team principal Meiyappan was found guilty of betting and bringing the IPL and the game into disrepute. After this, the BCCI banned Meiyappan from involving in the game. Justice RM Lodha said that due to all this fixing-betting matter, the reputation of the game had been hurt quite grievously. In 2022, Yuzvendra Chahal revealed two incidents of physical harassment that happened with him, while he was with Mumbai Indians.
Remember, Cricket is said to be A Gentleman’s Game!
