IPL: 12 New introductions in twelve years of the league

In a cricket-mad country like India, franchise cricket been a feast to the fans. The Indian Premier League has been a huge hit across the globe. After the launch of IPL, many country’s cricket board’s turned heads towards the premier leagues. IPL features best players across the globe in return churns out hefty turn over in form of capital for the board. IPL was launched by the cash-rich, Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2008 by the then board’s Vice President Lalit Modi. The league is played in double round-robin league followed by play-offs and knockouts. The 12th edition of the Indian Premier League is underway, we have come so far since the inception of the league. The league was influential to an extent that ICC started endorsing by introducing the rules initiated by IPL. Let’s turn back the clock and see new introductions in the past 12 years. Here are the 12 new introductions in IPL: 1) Decision Review System DRS. (Photo Source: Twitter) Decision Review System (DRS) is a technology-based system used in cricket to assist the officials with their decision making. DRS was implemented in the 11th edition of IPL in 2018. Initially, the fan base stood divided on the launch of DRS bringing the accuracy issue to spotlight. Most of the fans and players opined that the technology-based decision making might not be accurate and DRS might deviate the original reviews. In 2019, the review system was made stricter as the board made it time bound — players need to appeal in 15 seconds. 2) Right-to-Match card Richard Madley. (Photo Source: Twitter) The right to match card is something which was a delight for the team owners. The team honchos need not worry about losing their biggest assets. This option was introduced in 2018. Here teams can buy back their best bets by matching opponents bids. Last year every team have shown good interest in retaining their important players. Considering the fact that, franchise cricket is a fan based format, every fan base have their hero in the team they support. So, the foray of retaining players has kept the fans focus on their favourite team and favourite player for that matter. According to the new policy, a maximum of five players can be retained (3 retain and 2 RTM cards or vice-versa). In the 11th edition, 18 players were retained making Virat Kohli most expensive player. Kohli was retained for a whopping sum of Rs 17 crore. 3) Ban of Pakistan players Sohail Tanvir IPL. (Photo Source: Twitter) The Mumbai attack on November 26, 2008 had shook the world and that led to the tensions between India and Pakistan Governments increasing. Incidentally, in the first season of the league, 11 Pakistan players were auctioned. In the first edition, Pakistan unorthodox bowler, Sohail Tanvir made headlines after snaring six wickets while conceding 14 runs. He was playing for Rajasthan Royals and his team went on to lift the cup in the first edition. But in 2009, BCCI had decided not to allow Pakistan players to play in the IPL due to the diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Also, the bilateral series has been in a long discussion between PCB and BCCI that Pakistan wanted to play series against the two-time world champions. Till date, the Pakistan players are deprived of playing in the T20 league. 4) Different jerseys for home and away games RCB home and away jersey. (Photo Source: Twitter) The Bengaluru franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore is the only team which has introduced a new trend of donning different jerseys when playing at home and while playing away from home. It was a motive from the big five European football leagues. According to the FIFA rule book, it is always mandatory for a visiting team to wear an alternate jersey to prevent from confusion to the officials, players and spectators. In IPL 9 i.e.. 2016 season, Royal Challengers Bangalore had unveiled two different colours of their jersey. Their home kit displays, black on shoulders and chest while from chest to bottom the jersey shines in red. As red being RCB’s traditional colour they wanted it to glimmer it in M Chinnaswamy. The away kit is nothing but opposite to the home jersey. 5) Lakhpati spectators IPL Crowd catch. (Photo Source: Twitter) Well, do you remember the peppy music played in the stadiums? The music played between overs to create a ripple of excitement among the spectators? It has become a ritual for the audience to echo the stands with their shout over their throat. Last season, the board has implemented a rule to encourage the sportsmanship in the spectators. A spectator in the stands can win 1 lakh if he/she takes a single-handed catch hit by the batsman. A happy-go-lucky fan turned lakhpati after catching a ball hit by Pant in Feroz Shah Kotla. Also in 2018, there had been instances when the spectators got back home with big smile on face and pocket filled with cash. One such lucky spectator was the one who caught the ball with a single hand when Rohit Sharma hit an outstanding six over the covers. 6) IPL Fan Park IPL fan park. (Photo Source: Twitter) IPL Fan Park is another initiative started in 2015 by the cash-rich board, to cover most of the II-tier cities in the country. The IPL matches would be screened in various cities (one city per match). Fan Park is a paradise for IPL fans who can collectively watch the match and celebrate their team’s romp. At this point in time, the IPL fever is spread throughout the country, thus top honchos of IPL have decided to spread it to 21 cities covering more than 100 cities. It has got better since the birth of this experiment as fans continue to support the initiative and so did it spread to the towns as well. 7) Major mic AB de Villiers. (Photo Source: Twitter) In the era of stump mic conversations becoming controversial, IPL has introduced the player on mic and stump mics. Player on mics would give fans the option of giving an edge to listen to their favourite players and at some point in time, also they can hear the sledging as well. Recently, in international cricket, stump mic has been revealing controversial statements by the players. Few instances in the likes of Sarfaraz Ahmed giving out racial slurs while Joe Root’s response to Shannon Gabriel’s ‘gay comment’ has set the internet on storm. 8) Defunct teams MS Dhoni and Washington Sundar played for RPS in 2016 and 2017. (Photo Source: Twitter) Out of the 12 seasons, in eight seasons, eight teams were in the fray. But in 2011, 2012 and 2013 there were 10, 9 and 9 teams respectively competing to lay hands on the coveted cup. So far, there are five teams which are defunct — Deccan Chargers, Pune Warriors India, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions. The recently defunct teams are Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants. These teams were created in compensation for the banned Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years. Deccan Chargers was out of the league because of the financial crunch they were going through in the team. Kochi Tuskers Kerala was terminated by the BCCI in 2011 for all the petty reasons. The Kerala franchise was terminated because they failed to provide bank security for the annual fee. 9) Change of team name Delhi Capitals. (Photo Source: Twitter) Delhi Daredevils was considered one of the powerful team names when it was named. But, after 11 seasons, the team’s board of directors took a U-turn and decided to change the name of the team of Delhi Capitals in December 2018. The Delhi franchise is owned by JSW and GMR Group. Before the 11th edition of IPL, 50 per cent of ownership was transferred to JSW Group and the co-owner Parth Jindal termed the change of name as luck factor for the Delhi franchise. Delhi Daredevils reached their best position back in 2012 when they played playoffs. Also, they have roped in India’s best batting figures — Shikhar Dhawan from Sunrisers Hyderabad. Delhi Capitals have their home ground as Feroz Shah Kotla and their second home ground as Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium which is located in Raipur. 10) Increase in purse Kolkata Knight Riders auction table. (Photo Source: Twitter) An increase of purse for the franchises has always been a respite for the players as they would get better salaries. It’s a known fact that IPL has the highest capital and pays a good amount to the players when compared to any other T20 leagues. According to BCCI, in 2015, the profits from IPL boosted the country’s GDP. With it’s growing fame, IPL has attracted the players across the globe with its whopping sum given. The franchises’ purse has been bigger and better for every now and then. In 2015, there was an increase of team’s purse by 5 per cent. In 2018, again the purse of the teams were tinkered. The salary cap for the players available to the team was increased from Rs 66 crores in 2017 to Rs 80 crore in 2018. However, there were not much changes in 2019 though in terms of increase or decrease of the team’s purse. 11) A look back in search of records Kings XI Punjab’s Chris Gayle. (Photo Source: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Over the years, the game has transformed a lot and the introduction of T20 format has definitely brought record in limelight. A player gets marginal overs to prove his mettle and they have to give their 100 per cent within the stipulated time. This one reason is sufficient to bring out the best in players. Also, in the past 11 years, there have been whose impactful innings are still memories for many fans. There are jaw-dropping records made all this while if enlisted. Remember when Chris Gayle‘s willow became Thor’s hammer? He helped RCB score the highest team total of 263/5 against Pune Warriors in 2013. For now, Virat Kohli is the highest run-getter in IPL as he recorded a belligerent 5218 runs in 162 innings. Chris Gayle is the only player to complete more than 300 sixes in the league with De Villiers behind him at 199 sixes. And of late, the bowlers are hitting right cords in the IPL as it changed the scenario of being a batsman paradise to stage set for bowlers to plunge daggers. 12) LED stumps (Photo Source: Hotstar) The involvement of technology in cricket has a left a good note on the game. For more accuracy, there has been usage of lightning wickets for better results. Everything the board has introduced has given a good result by the end of the day. The inventor of LED stumps was Bronte EcKermann. It was first tried out in a club game in Adelaide. It replaced the wooden stumps and Cricket Australia decided that LED stumps should be used in the 2012 edition of the Big Bash League for the first time. For the first time, the LED stumps were introduced in the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League. With LED lights present in wickets and bails, it is easy for the umpires to notice when the bails are dislodged. Get the latest Cricket News and updates from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.

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