by Vinit Patel

Created on: July 08, 2009   Last Updated: July 12, 2009

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a Twenty20 competition that was created by the Board of Control of Cricket in Indian (BCCI) in early 2008. The format of each game involves two teams that play a single inning, with batting for 20 overs as opposed to the traditional one-day-international (ODI) inning of 50 overs. The current Chairman and Commissioner of the IPL is BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi. Indian property developer DLF Group has reportedly paid USD $40 Million to be the sponsor of the ILP which is now referred to as "DLP Indian Premier League". In addition, the winner and 2 runner-ups from the IPL qualify to play in the Twenty20 Champions league representing the country of India. The IPL has a combined value of over USD $1 Billion resulting from extensive broadcast television rights, online media and sponsorships.

The first season of the IPL was played in India, where the Rajasthan Royals won the tournament against the Chennai Super Kings. The second season was played in South Africa, and the Deccan Chargers came out to win the tournament against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The IPL consists of 8 original teams listed below. However, for the 2010-2011 season, there are confirmed franchises that will be based in Ahmedabad and Kanpur. The teams have gained a lot of publicity due to Bollywood celebrity and large corporations being the owners of the teams.

Chennai Super Kings - Owned by India Cements Deccan Chargers - Owned by Deccan Chronicle Delhi Daredevils - Owned by GMR Holdings Kings XI Punjab - Owned by Bombay Dyeing, Priety Zinta Kolkata Knight Riders - Owned by Red Chilies Entertainment, Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla Mumbai Indians - Owned by Reliance Industries Rajasthan Royals - Owned by Emerging Media, Shilpa Shetty Royal Challengers Bangalore - Owned by UB Group

Players are signed from a variety of countries including Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies. Each squad is required to have a minimum of 16 players. There is a cap of no more than 10 foreign players on a single team. Each team must also have a minimum of 8 local players as well as a minimum of 2 players from the BCCI. Initially players are bid by the teams, although, during the off-seasons, players are signed by a draft with the lowest ranking teams getting first picks.

More information can be found on the Indian Premier League website at http://www.iplt20.com/.

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