Finally the day has arrived when the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets underway this evening at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium with defending champion Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in what can be treated as repeat of last year’s final.
It may be recalled that the two had clashed in last year’s final clash in Bengaluru, in which Sunrisers Hyderabad went on to become winners.
Cricket fans, both on the grounds or watching the games on TV, will wait for the now familiar sound of the bugle to play with every hit boundary or sixer or a fall of a wicket with a lot of enthusiasm.
Since it had won the title sponsorship of the IPL for two years in 2015, Vivo Electronics will be the title sponsors of this year’s tournament too. Thus the league will be officially known as the Vivo Indian Premier League.
Now, isn’t this the right time to have a quick look at the decade-long journey of the much-loved cricket tourney?
The Indian Premier League (IPL), the professional Twenty20 cricket league in India was founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007 in association with Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Every year, the tournament is played during the months of April and May by franchise teams representing Indian cities.
The IPL is the most-attended cricket league in the world and ranks sixth among all sports leagues. So much had the the tournament gained in popularity in three years that in 2010, it became the first sporting event in the world to be broadcast live on YouTube.
In 2015, the brand value of IPL was estimated to be US$ 4.5 billion in 2015 according to American Appraisal, a division of Duff & Phelps. According to the agency, the value of brand IPL jumped to $4.16 billion after the 2016 edition as against $3.54 billion in 2015.
The tournament will be spread over 47 days across 10 venues. The schedule has been designed in such a way that each team plays 14 matches of which seven would be played at home venues.
As per the norm, the final will also be played at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on 21 May.
The season will also witness IPL returning to Indore for the first time since 2011. The venue of the qualifiers and eliminator will be announced at a later date.
Rising Pune Supergiants will take on Mumbai Indians tomorrow (April 6) in Pune.
This IPL, the players to look out for would be M S Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra, Ben Stokes, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Matt Henry and Tymal Mills among others.
Finally, coming to the merchandises that each team come out with, KXIP like always will come up with a native flair offering Lassi Da Gilaas, customized mugs and team badges, MI has phrased their merchandise well offering wristbands, pillow cases, hand fans and Malinga hairdos. DD has kept abreast with its range of t-shirts, bags, slides and autographed bats and balls. RCB, being Vijay Mallya’s team will make a splash of their merchandise that includes caps, helmets, hooters and customized t-shirts for kids, men and women. Riding on the stardom of Shah Rukh Khan, KKR will sell defrays slippers, caps and replica jerseys. It also has emphatically expensive golden helmets. Similarly, SRH has a vast range of merchandise as well.
With a lot of merchadises on offer from various teams, we will have to wait and watch for the final outcome as far as the revenue by way of sales of the merchandises on offer is concerned
Our guess is as good as yours.
