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−	[[Category:India |F ]]	+	[[Category:Cricket |I ]]
−	[[Category:Fauna |F ]]	+	[[Category:India |I ]]
−	[[Category:China |F ]]	+	[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources |I ]]
−	[[Category:Sri Lanka |F ]]	+	[[Category:Cinema-TV-Pop |I ]]
		+	[[Category:Law,Constitution,Judiciary |I ]]
		+	[[File: The results of IPL finals, 2008-2016.jpg| The results of IPL finals, 2008-2016; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=30_05_2016_021_023_013&type=P&artUrl=A-NEW-SUNRISE-IN-BENGALURU-30052016021023&eid=31808 ''The Times of India''], May 30, 2016|frame|500px]]
−	=Burrowing frogs =	+	[[File: delhi daredevils ipl record 2008 2015.jpg| Delhi Daredevils: IPL record, 2008-2015; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com//Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=DEVILS-GET-THE-BLUES-AGAIN-19052015022005 ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
−	==Four new species in the Western Ghats/ 2017==	+
−	[http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/06/20/discovery-of-four-new-frog-species-confirms-western-ghats-region_a_22490982/  Sonam Joshi The Discovery Of Four New Frog Species Confirms Western Ghats Region As A Global Biodiversity Hotspot, June 20, 2017: The Huffington Post]	+
−	[[File: One of the 4 species of burrowing frogs.jpg|One of the 4 species of burrowing frogs, Courtesy: S D Biju, [http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/06/20/discovery-of-four-new-frog-species-confirms-western-ghats-region_a_22490982/  Sonam Joshi The Discovery Of Four New Frog Species Confirms Western Ghats Region As A Global Biodiversity Hotspot, June 20, 2017: The Huffington Post]|frame|500px]]	+
−	[[File: one of the species of burrowing frogs1.jpg|One of the species of burrowing frogs, Courtesy: S D Biju, [http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/06/20/discovery-of-four-new-frog-species-confirms-western-ghats-region_a_22490982/  Sonam Joshi The Discovery Of Four New Frog Species Confirms Western Ghats Region As A Global Biodiversity Hotspot, June 20, 2017: The Huffington Post]|frame|500px]]	+
−	[[File: One of the 4 species of burrowing frogs6.jpg|One of the 4 species of burrowing frogs, Courtesy: S D Biju, [http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/06/20/discovery-of-four-new-frog-species-confirms-western-ghats-region_a_22490982/  Sonam Joshi The Discovery Of Four New Frog Species Confirms Western Ghats Region As A Global Biodiversity Hotspot, June 20, 2017: The Huffington Post]|frame|500px]]	+
−	Delhi University researchers discover four new burrowing frogs in the Western Ghats.	+	=History=
		+	==Established in 2008==
		+	[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/ipl/news/How-IPL-changed-the-dynamics-of-Indian-cricket/articleshow/51738244.cms ''The Times of India''], April 8, 2016
−	A PhD student from Delhi University has discovered four new species of burrowing frogs in the Western Ghats, further cementing the region's place as a global biodiversity hotspot with an unprecedented rate of new frog discoveries in the last decade.	+	Twenty20 cricket became phenomenally popular after India won the inaugural World Twenty20 title in 2007 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The victory not only rejuvenated the Indians fans, who were reeling under the disappointment of the 2007 ODI World Cup, but it also gave way to the conceptualization of the Indian Premier League that has since then not only cashed on the craze but has also changed the way cricket is played in India.
−	The findings are the result of five years of extensive research by Delhi University student Sonali Garg, and her supervisor Professor SD Biju, who is also known as the 'Frog Man Of India'. The species belong to the Indian frog genus Fejerarya, but are unique because of their ability to burrow using their hind legs.	+	Brain child of the then BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi, the IPL was launched in 2008 with much fanfare as a competitive response to the Indian Cricket League (ICL) that was not recognized by the BCCI. Since then the IPL has not only come out as the clear victor but has given birth to various T20 leagues around the world and is the most-attended cricket league in the world. The ICL, with controversies of non-payment and fixing, folded up in 2009.
−	Discovered in Kerala and Maharashtra, the frogs were confirmed as new species by using an integrated taxonomic approach that included DNA studies, detailed morphological comparisons and bio-acoustics. They include the Maohrahan's Burrowing Frog discovered in the Agasthyamala Hills in south Kerala, the Kadar Burrowing Frog, discovered in the Vazhachal forest in Kerala, the CEPF Burrowing Frog found in Amboli in Maharashtra, and the Neil's Cox Burrowing Frog found in the Parambikulam tiger reserve in Kerala.	+	Following the same format as that of English Premier League (EPL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), the IPL works on a franchise system that were put for auction, where the highest bidder won the rights to own the team, representing each city.
−	"Burrowing frogs are very rare, cryptic and difficult to find. Only 7-8 out of the 230 frog species in the Western Ghats are burrowing frogs," Biju told HuffPost India. "While most frogs in the Western Ghats can be easily spotted during the monsoon, these frogs can be seen for only two to three weeks in June and July. Otherwise, they stay hidden underground or under wooden logs." This also makes these frogs the most susceptible to weather patterns. Since they only breed for a very short period of time, any changes in weather patterns can affect their numbers.	+	===2008: the beginnings===
		+	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=NOT-QUITE-A-PERFECT-10-05042017023030  K ShriniwasRao, Apr 05 2017: The Times of India]
−	"Our study highlights a fairly common group of frogs that is usually found closer to human habitations but is still not documented properly. More extensive studies are required to scientifically identify and describe the Western Ghats frogs which are already facing extinction threats from various human activities," Garg, who conducted this study as part of her PhD research at Delhi University, said.	+	A Decade After It Set The Benchmark For T20 Leagues, Is The IPL Still Blazing The Trail When It Comes To Innovation?
−	In February, Garg and Biju had announced the discovery of four news species of the world's smallest frogs in the Western Ghats. The frogs were so tiny that they could even sit on a finger nail.	+	Ten years ago, on a pleasant afternoon in 2008, when a five-star hotel in the south of Mumbai played host to an Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction, the first of its kind in any sport across the world, Sotheby's London auction house was yet to make a killing from a fascinating bronze sculpture -a Swiss masterpiece -waiting to go under the hammer. The winning bid for Walking Man I didn't quite proverbially match up to the cheque written (and the noise made) for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the scale of contemporary European art notwithstanding.
−	There has been an exponential increase in the number of new amphibian species discovered in the Western Ghats in the last decade. Out of the 1581 new species of amphibians discovered between 2006 and 2015, the second-highest number were from the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot, numbering approximately 159. Out of these, 103 were from the Western Ghats alone.	+
−	In fact, the number of amphibian species discovered in the Western Ghats habitat has nearly doubled within a short span of ten years. Biju attributes the region's biodiversity to factors such as the Western Ghats being isolated from the mainland, as well as the wide array of habitats found within it.	+	Much later, Richard Madley , the competent London-based auctioneer at IPL for a decade now, would admit -a bit in disbelief and a lot in awe -that sport, much defined like art as an expression of human creative skill, had taken a multi-dimensional leap of faith that astonishing afternoon. Cricket, until then a sport that had been looking to readdress itself in ways that could reassure coming generations of its viability, was given a new life by administrators with twisted hearts and professionals with incredible designs.
−	"If you look at the pattern of discoveries, you can see that only about 30-40% of the flora and fauna, especially lower forms of species, in the Western Ghats has been discovered or documented," Biju said. "I believe that we will have to wait for at least another 10 years to fully understand the diversity of life forms in this region.”	+	This was 2008. India hadn't yet woken up to the idea of leagues until then. By that time, NFL ­ the celebrated American football league ­ was already 88 years old and the NBA ­ the premier men's basketball tournament ­ 62. It was pure innovation at play for IPL, working at multiple levels that helped redraft cricketing philosophies in ways that made the world sit up and take note. Never before had an investor in sport become a bigger talking point than the investment itself.
−	However, about one-third of the frogs in the Western Ghats are already threatened by extinction. "Many of these frogs are extremely rare and found only in specific areas," Biju said. "Any small change in the habitat is more than enough to decrease their population.”	+	===The results of the finals===
		+	2008-16: See graphic.
−	=Frankixalus (tree hole-breeding frogs)=	+	===Impact on cricket in India===
−	==Biju finds rhacophorid genus in the NE/ 2016==	+	[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/ipl/news/How-IPL-changed-the-dynamics-of-Indian-cricket/articleshow/51738244.cms ''The Times of India''], April 8, 2016
−	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=New-frog-genus-discovered-in-NE-forests-21012016005053 ''The Times of India''], Jan 21 2016	+
−	Manash Gohain	+	The first IPL auction took place on January 24, 2008 and the total base price for the auction was $400 million. The auction went on to fetch $723.59 million.
−	'''New frog genus discovered in NE forests'''	+	The Mumbai franchise (Mumbai Indians) owned by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) was the most expensive franchise - fetching $111.9 million closely followed by Vijay Mallya's United Breweries which paid $111.6 million for the Bangalore franchise (Royal Challengers Bangalore). Media house Deccan Chronicle won the Hyderabad franchise (Deccan Chargers) for $107 million, while India Cements' Chennai franchise (Chennai Super Kings) cost $91 million.
−		+
−	Professor Sathyabhama Das Biju of DU, popularly known as the `frogman of India', and his team of researchers have discovered a new genus of tree holebreeding frogs in the forests of India's northeast and China. These frogs are special because the tadpoles feed on their mother's eggs.	+	Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla's Red Chillies Entertainment bought the Kolkata franchise (Kolkata Knight Riders) for $75.09, while Preity Zinta and her then beau Ness Wadia bought the Mohali team (Kings XI Punjab) for $76 million. Infrastructure development group GMR bagged the ownership of the Delhi team (Delhi Daredevils) for $84 million and the Emerging Media, consisting of its CEO Fraser Castellino, Manoj Badale and Lachlan Murdoch and other investors won the rights for the Jaipur franchise (Rajasthan Royals) for $67 million.
−	The team comprised PhD students of Biju and researchers from National Centre for Cell Science (Pune), University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and American Museum of Natural History (USA).	+	The maiden edition of IPL had eight teams comprising a minimum of 16 players each. The tournament lasted for 44 days and involved 59 matches. And since then the league has had its share of controversies and seen many ups and down.
−	[[File: A tree hole-breeding frog of the genus Frankixalus discovered by Prof Biju.jpg|A tree hole-breeding frog of the genus Frankixalus discovered by Professor Biju; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=New-frog-genus-discovered-in-NE-forests-21012016005053 ''The Times of India''], Jan 21 2016|frame|500px]]	+	Two new leagues - Pune Warriors India (bought by the Sahara group for $370 million) and Kochi Tuskers Kerala (purchased by Rendezvous Sports World for $333.3 million) - were brought in before the fourth season of the league in 2011. But the Kochi Tuskers were soon terminated for breaching the BCCI's terms and conditions.
		+	2009 champions Deccan Chargers were suspended in 2012 and then renamed Sunrisers Hyderabad under new owners Sun TV Network.
		+	But the biggest shock came in 2013 when the IPL was rocked by the fixing and betting scandal and many big names got embroiled in the controversy and it resulted in not only a few heads being rolled but entire teams were suspended. After two years of trials and tribulations, two-time champions Chennai Super Kings and the inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals were suspended for two seasons.
−	The findings have been published in a paper titled Frankixalus, a new rhacophorid genus of tree hole-bre eding frog with oophagous tadpoles' in the current is sue of international journa PLoS One. The genus has be en named Frankixalus after Professor Franky Bossuyt of Vrije Universiteit Brusse for his contribution to amp hibian research.	+	Rajasthan Royals players S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested by Delhi police in Mumbai on charges of spot-fixing during IPL 6. Sreesanth and Chavan were subsequently banned for life by the BCCI's disciplinary committee.
−	“In 1870, British natura list T C Jerdon collected two specimens of a tree frog from forests of Darjeeling and preserved them at Natural History Museum, London. The frog was not found in the wild for over 150 years and was scientifically deemed lost. It remained a mysterious creature--a victim of mistaken identity ever since,“ Biju said.	+	Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants replaced Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two seasons. Dhoni and his longtime Chennai Super Kings teammate Suresh Raina were picked to play for opposing teams in the first-ever player draft of the IPL that was held in Mumbai on December 15, 2015.
−	The overlooked specimens in London were pulled out of the museum cabinets and studied, and the team conducted extensive field work for three years in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Naga land, Tripura, Sikkim and Darjeeling (West Bengal).The samples were analysed in the genetics lab of DU.	+	Rising Pune Supergiants, the Pune franchise bought by Kolkata-based businessman Sanjiv Goenka, expectedly picked Dhoni as the first player for Rs 12.5 crore and Intex Technologies owner Keshav Bansal, who invested in Gujarat Lions, picked Raina as the first choice followed by Ravindra Jadeja - the local Saurashtra boy who has grown up playing in Rajkot.
−	“Our discovery indicates that documentation of Indian amphibians is still incomplete. Unfortunately , many of them face various extinction threats, especially due to habitat loss and fragmentation. Several populations of the new genus were found in highly disturbed habitats, which is a reason for concern. Taking any conservation effort for amphibians will indirectly conserve several other life forms of that area,“ said Biju.	+	The two new franchises paid Rs 12.5 crore to the first player they picked at the draft, Rs 9.5 crore to the second, Rs 7.5 crore to the third, Rs 5.5 crore to the fourth and Rs 4 crore to the fifth. The two franchises had a limited purse of Rs 66 crore to form their squads for the season and a minimum spending of Rs 40 crore was mandatory between the draft and the auction in February.
		+	Australian all-rounder Shane Watson emerged as the biggest draw going for a whopping Rs 9.50 crore bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore but it was Pawan Negi who turned heads with a mind-boggling deal of Rs 8.50 crore by Delhi Daredevils to be the costliest Indian buy in the 2016 IPL players' auction.
−	Biju and his team had in 2014 discovered seven new species of golden-backed frogs from the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka global biodiversity hotspot.	+	With corporate megabucks, Bollywood glamour and the frequent sound of wood thumping leather, the IPL has revolutionized the sport in the way it was played and cricketainment has been the new word to describe the evolution of a new chapter in history of cricket.
		+	The Indian Premier League has proved that cricket will never be the same again.
−	=Indirana paramakri, Indirana bhadrai (leaping frogs)=	+	===Records===
−	==Two new species discovered by Biju/ 2016==	+	2008-16, some 2017: See graphic.
−	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=Two-new-species-croak-at-W-Ghat-17112016006033  Manash Gohain, Two new species croak at W Ghat, Nov 17 2016 : The Times of India]	+	[[File: IPL records, 2008-16, some 2017.jpg|IPL records, 2008-16, some 2017; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=05_04_2017_001_062_003&type=P&artUrl=A-DECADE-OF-SHAKING-THE-WORLD-05042017001062&eid=31808 The Times of India], April 5, 2017|frame|500px]]
−	[[File: Leaping frogs.jpg| Leaping frogs: Indirana paramakri (Rocky terrain), Indirana bhadrai (Bhadra)|frame|500px]]	+
−	Two new species of frogs have been discovered by Professor Sathyabhama Das Biju, popularly called India's Frogman. This takes his count to 80 since his first discovery in 2003.The DU scientist's latest find took place in the Western Ghats in Karnataka and Kerala. The species from Kerala has been given the common name of Rocky terrain leaping frog (scientific name: Indirana paramakri), while the one in Karnataka is called Bhadra leaping frog (Indirana bhadrai).	+	==2008-18/ Captains, stars who dropped themselves from the team==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F04%2F03&entity=Ar02202&sk=097E89E9&mode=text  April 3, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
−	This June, Biju's team chanced upon a strange mating process of the Bombay night frogs, while in 2014 he and his team had discovered seven species in the Western Ghats. In 2012, a team led by him had revealed to the world a new family of legless amphibians known as caecilians. Other successes of the Frogman have come in the forests of Nagaland.	+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl/top-stories/ipl-captains-who-stepped-down-mid-season/articleshow/63923068.cms  April 26, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
−	The two frogs species belong to the Ranixalidae family, one of the three ancient frog families that diversified on the Indian landmass long before the extant frogs appeared in this region. “Nearly half of the currently recognised species in this family have been described only in the last three years,“ said Biju, adding that a new genus had been recognised to accommodate three previously known species.
−	Biju added, “Our surveys in the Western Ghats suggest the further presence of undescribed diversity in this group, thereby increasing all estimates of the family's diversity estimates.“	+	'''HIGHLIGHTS'''
−	Biju and doctorate scholar Sonali Garg of the Department of Environmental Studies, DU, conducted extensive sampling of Indirana frogs from across the Western Ghats, and performed DNA barcoding for 200 ranixalid samples.	+	In 2008, Mumbai Indians had to choose Shaun Pollock as their third captain of the season after stand-in skipper Harbhajan Singh was suspended
−	=Megophrys (horned frogs)=	+	In 2012, Ricky Ponting stepped aside handing over the reigns to Rohit Sharma, who lead Mumbai Indian to the title
−	== 4 new species found in NE/ 2018==	+
−	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F11%2F20&entity=Ar01012&sk=2E3C2ECE&mode=text  Manash Gohain, 4 new frog species found in NE after 14-year study, November 20, 2018: ''The Times of India'']	+
−	[[File:  4 new Megophrys (horned frog) species were found in the NE in 2018, after a 14-year study.jpg| 4 new Megophrys (horned frog) species were found in the NE in 2018, after a 14-year study <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F11%2F20&entity=Ar01012&sk=2E3C2ECE&mode=text  Manash Gohain, 4 new frog species found in NE after 14-year study, November 20, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]	+	In 2015, Steve Smith announced at the toss that he has replaced Shane Watson as captain of Rajasthan Royals
		+	''' VVS DROPS HIMSELF FOR GILLY (2008) '''
−	Four new species of ‘horned frogs’ have been discovered in the forests of northeastern states, which has forced scientists to revise some of their previous estimates.	+	Originally named as the Icon Player for Deccan Chargers before the first season of IPL, VVS Laxman gave up the status in a bid to allow his team spend more at the auctions. However, the genial Hyderabadi dropped himself from the team halfway through the season after the team’s poor run.
−	This has been the result of a14-year study that was a joint effort by Delhi University, University College Dublin, Ireland, and Natural History Museum (UK). The study found that Jerdon’s white-lipped horned frog is not as wide ranging as previously thought. It’s restricted to a few recently discovered populations in Nagaland and Manipur, and near Sohra (Cherrapunjee) in Meghalaya where it was first discovered in 1870 by British naturalist Thomas Caverhill Jerdon.	+	It allowed Adam Gilchrist to take over as the captain. ‘Gilly’ led the side in the next two seasons as well, and DC won the title under him in 2009.
−	The discovery resulted from professor Stephen Mahony’s PhD work carried out at University College Dublin and DU (supervised by professor Emma Telling and professor S D Biju). Biologists were investigating a group of six closely related species of horned frogs (named due to a fleshy, hornlike protrusion on the upper eyelids). Historical literature and a large number of museum specimens were examined by the lead author, including seven years of extensive fieldwork in some of the wettest and difficult terrains in the world by the Indian team.	+	''' DHAWAN MAKES WAY FOR SAMMY (2014) '''
−	The four new species have been named as Himalayan horned frog (megophrys Himalayana), Garo white-lipped horned frog (megophrys oreocrypta), yellow spotted whitelipped horned frog (megophrys flavipunctata), and giant Himalayan horned frog (megophrys periosa). The study was published on November 19 as a monograph in the scientific journal Zootaxa. The implication of this study is that all remaining frog populations throughout Asia could represent unique new species that are yet to be named.	+	In 2014, the Sunrisers Hyderabad announced that they’d ‘relieved’ Shikhar Dhawan of the burden of captaincy and appointed West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy as the new captain for the rest of the IPL season, hoping that the move will help Dhawan bat more freely. Sammy was included in the side and straight away thrusted into the captaincy role. Dhawan had managed only 215 runs in his first 10 outings as captain.
−	Mahony, the lead author of the study, said, “The discovery of relatively large new species of frogs is not very common these days, and this study highlights how an animal that scientists thought they knew well for the past 150 years can surprise us when we take a closer look at them. We have found that all species in this study have a smaller geographic range than previously thought. As Asia’s remaining forests are rapidly shrinking due to human activities, and the streams where these frogs reproduce become polluted, the urgency of knowing where these unique species live is vital if there is any chance to protect them from extinction.”	+	''' SANGA DROPS HIMSELF (2012) '''
−	Of the four, the smallest grow to a size of 5.7-7.5cm (yellow spotted white-lipped) and the largest grow to 7.1-11.2cm (giant Himalayan).	+	While leading the Deccan Chargers in the 2012 IPL, Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara was enduring an ordinary run. He not only gave up the captaincy mid-stream but even dropped himself from the playing XI, making way for Australian big-hitter Cameron White to accommodate four overseas players in the XI. However, the move did not yield the desired results as Deccan Chargers could never get going in the tournament.
−	“Northeast India is rich in amphibian diversity but despite being part of two globally recognised biodiversity hotspots (Himalayas and Indo-Burma), this region is neglected as compared to the Western Ghats hotspot. Our discovery highlights the need to carry out systematic research in northeast India to fully understand and conserve its unique frog fauna,” Biju said.	+	''' PONTING MAKES WAY FOR ROHIT (2013) '''
−	=Microhylid genus=	+	In 2013, Mumbai Indians began on shaky note when they lost three out of their first six matches. Skipper Ricky Ponting wasn’t in the best of form. The batting great decided to step down and handed over the reins to Rohit Sharma against Kolkata Knight Riders. MI eventually went on to clinch the title under Rohit, even as Ponting kept cheering the team from the sidelines.
−	==Micryletta aishani==	+
−	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F06%2F12&entity=Ar00715&sk=7514B118&mode=text  Manash Gohain, June 12, 2019: ''The Times of India'']	+	''' VIJAY REPLACES MILLER (2016) '''
−	[[File: The Micryletta aishani.jpg|The Micryletta aishani <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F06%2F12&entity=Ar00715&sk=7514B118&mode=text  Manash Gohain, June 12, 2019: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]	+	Struggling at the bottom of the points table in 2016, Kings XI Punjab made a bold move by removing David Miller, who had struggled with both the bat and leadership, as the team’s captain with Murali Vijay, even as they had 10 league matches remaining.
−	A new frog species has been discovered in the Northeast by a team of scientists from Delhi University and Wildlife Institute of India in collaboration with researchers from Indonesia and the US. This one belongs to the Microhylid genus and has been named Micryletta aishani.	+	“David Miller continues to be an integral part of the team and is a very strong player of the squad,” KXIP said in a statement. Till that stage, Kings XI had won just one match out of
		+	six. Till that point, Miller had only managed to score 76 runs while Vijay had amassed 143.
−	The first known species of the genus was found in Sumatra, Indonesia. At present, the genus has only four recognised species that are commonly known as paddy frogs. But the Northeast one was confirmed as a new species after detailed comparison of both DNA and morphology with all previously known species across Southeast and East Asia.	+	==An overview, 2008-19==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL/2020/04/18&entity=Ar01408&sk=EE95F159&mode=text  Partha Bhaduri, April 18, 2020: ''The Times of India'']
−	What has surprised scientists is that the new species isn’t found far from human habitat.	+	There was a moment inside the sweltering cauldron of the Chinnaswamy Stadium all those years ago, on April 18, 2008 to be precise, when the still-nebulous Indian Premier League (IPL) acquired a wonderfully original and totally preposterous life of its own.
		+	Like most epoch-defining moments, it wasn’t exactly part of the script.
−	“Our discovery shows that even fairly common frogs usually found closer to human habitations are still not documented properly. More extensive studies are required to scientifically identify and describe the Northeastern frogs which are already facing extinction threats from various human activities,” said Abhijit Das of Wildlife Institute of India.	+	It was just two overs into the Royal Challengers Bangalore chase, but the hosts already seemed in disarray at 9/1. They had begun the innings looking bereft of hope, having been numbed into submission by Brendon McCullum’s unexpected and, at that time, unbelievable assault on their bowlers.
−	The past decade has witnessed an exponential increase in the number of new amphibian species discovered in India, particularly the Western Ghats.	+	The young, pacy Ashok Dinda steamed in to bowl for the Kolkata Knight Riders, and promptly got Virat Kohli to chop a short, wide one on to his stumps. The Chinnaswamy exploded.
−	“The actual number of frog species in Northeast India is much higher than the current estimates. What remains is for us to carry out dedicated surveys in unexplored regions and undertake comprehensive studies using integrative taxonomy, just like the Western Ghats where the number of known amphibian species has nearly doubled within a short span of 10 years, making it one of the leading biodiversity hotspots in the world with an unprecedented rate of new frog discoveries,” said professor S D Biju from DU.	+	The dismissal should have been greeted with stunned silence. Instead, up in the aisles, a prancing KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan discovered to his amazement that the whole stadium was dancing along with him, roaring its approval. Dinda was fist pumping at the crowd, which would continue its carnival merriment for the rest of the game.
−	The new species is named aishani after the Sanskrit word aishani that means ‘northeast’. It differs from other paddy frogs due to its reddish-brown back, dark streaks and ash grey mottling on the lateral sides, shape of the snout and absence of webbed feet.	+	That night, Bengaluru didn’t seem to care that their own home team, packed to the gills with Test stalwarts, had unravelled before their eyes.
−	The DNA analyses in the new study also indicate the presence of more unknown species in this genus in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.	+	A trend was set. This wasn’t about team loyalties anymore. It wasn’t about fan favourites either, but something totally alien to sporting leagues, a kind of collective joie de vivre that would propel the IPL to unprecedented heights and reshape the game’s dynamics, both within the field and beyond it.
		+	In that first season, crowds across the country’s giant stadiums revelled as the sheer audacity of it all hit home. Indian cricket was shedding its garb of tradition in full public glare, demolishing national-team boundaries and embracing an insatiable appetite for change.
−	The new species was discovered based on specimens collected from a degraded forest area in Cachar district of Assam. “It is likely to be more widely distributed in Northeast India, particularly the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot region that lies south of Brahmaputra. It could very well be present in Bangladesh and Myanmar,” said Sonali Garg of DU.	+	This was cricket’s version of hip-hop, a deep cultural revolution, not some transient, silly hit-and-giggle gimmick. The IPL wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan thing but a stable entity which would usher in democratic norms in a hierarchical cricketing order. It would redraw the bounds of the financially possible.
−	===Mysticellus genus===	+	Players would be auctioned off, permanently altering their non-monetary valuations in the eyes of coaches. Cricketing mercenaries would be born. And like most revolutions, the IPL would acquire a dark side.
−	[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47208169  13 February 2019: ''BBC'']	+
−	Indian researchers have discovered a new species of frog - in a roadside puddle.	+	That first match was a dream launch. McCullum’s extraordinary 73-ball 158, then the highest T20 score, contained 13 sixes and 10 fours, including, at one point, a scoop over fine leg for six off Zaheer Khan. That innings was an early pointer to the format’s fundamental redrawing of balance between bat and ball.
−	Sonali Garg, a PhD student at Delhi University, and her supervisor SD Biju found the new species in the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot in southern India.	+	What was remarkable was that this wasn’t just a plonk-your-front-foot-andhit-through-the-line type of pitch. RCB’s batting order, comprising Rahul Dravid, Wasim Jaffer, Kohli and Jacques Kallis, were used to ‘proper’ cricket and ‘proper’ responses to given situations. They lost by 140 runs.
−	The species belongs to a new Indian frog group or genus which the scientists have named Mysticellus.	+	That first IPL evening was also the first time the IPL made conventional batting seem uncool. In fact, the first IPL edition included all the pointers of things to come. Shane Warne used strong backroom support, tactical nous, swagger and positivity to scythe through opponents, laying the marker for modern T20’s constant craving for data analysis.
		+	Old warhorses like Adam Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya showed that their withering frames were still suitable for belting boundaries. Since then, the IPL has been a league of veterans as much as youngsters, in spite of heightened fitness levels and fielders hunting in packs while flirting with boundary ropes.
−	The name is derived from Latin and means mysterious and diminutive.	+	Innovative shots, broadened bats and quick fixes by hapless bowlers, the first IPL had it all. It also had something that wouldn’t be seen again: the presence of Pakistani cricketers. Virender Sehwag became the first to declare that IPL performances should count towards national selection. Brett Lee said, “If we look back in 10 years’ time, this tournament is going to be a massive landmark.”
−	The scientists discovered the narrow-mouthed frog after three years of extensive explorations, and have confirmed that it represents an entirely new species and genus of microhylid frogs.	+
−	The new genus is currently known only in a single locality.	+	By 2014, the IPL was ranked sixth in terms of eyeballs among global sporting leagues. By 2015, each IPL edition was contributing around $160 million to the GDP. By 2017, Star India would be buying the broadcast rights for $2.55 billion. By 2018, 1,112 players would register for the auction and the franchises would spend Rs 600 crore to build their teams. Just before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Duff and Phelps calculated that the IPL brand valuation had soared 13.5% to Rs 47,500 cr.
−	"Our discovery of this new frog genus from one of the most explored and researched regions in the Western Ghats indicates that documentation of amphibians in this globally recognised biodiversity hotspot is still far from being complete," says Sonali Garg.	+
−	"This frog went unnoticed until now probably because it appears for less than four days for breeding activities and lives a secretive lifestyle for the rest of the year.”	+	It seemed nothing, not even the 2013 match-fixing scandal which led to the banning of two teams, could make a dent in the IPL’s soaring graph. Nothing, that is, until the coronavirus.
		+	While it’s a given that sporting leagues are not immune to global economic shocks, sporting activity has been hit hardest by the social-distancing norms this pandemic necessitates.
−	A number of new frog species have been discovered in the Western Ghats in the past decade, making it one of the leading biodiversity hotspots in the world.	+	How long will it be till we can flock without fear to stadiums like we used to? Will future IPL games be live streamed from empty stadiums, neutering the league of its emotive appeal? What will the IPL look like in 2022, when the sponsorship rights may be up for grabs again?
−	"At the same time, Indian amphibians face various extinction threats, especially due to habitat loss and degradation. The only known population of the new genus is found in a wayside area disturbed with vehicular movement, plantation activities and human settlements," says Ms Garg.	+	Worryingly, is the age of the megabuck sporting league over? According to some estimates, the IPL and its peripheral industries could see a hit of Rs 10,000 crore. There has been no pandemic insurance by either broadcaster or board. The revenue model involves selling properties, to broadcasters, sponsors, franchises... what happens when that model is rendered obsolete? What happens when there are no gate receipts, no corporate boxes?
−	"Since little is known about the habitat requirements and the distribution range of the new frog, the specific site needs to be preserved to protect this frog.”	+	The IPL has always been shaped by significant external events, like India’s 2007 World T20 win which made the concept viable. Now, too, it’s time to look towards other global sporting leagues, and see how they cope.
		+	To survive in a post-pandemic world, the IPL must innovate again.
−	A new tadpole that burrows through sand was discovered in Western Ghats in 2016, and an extraordinary tree frog thought to have died out more than a century ago was also rediscovered in the same year.	+	==The greatest players, 2008-19==
−	In 2017, four new species of burrowing frogs were discovered in the region.	+
−	[[Category:China|F FROGS: INDIA	+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F04%2F18&entity=Ar01414&sk=5D2D28DA&mode=text  IPL’s Greatest XI, April 18, 2020: ''The Times of India'']
−	FROGS: INDIA]]	+
−	[[Category:Fauna|F FROGS: INDIA	+
−	FROGS: INDIA]]	+
−	[[Category:India|F FROGS: INDIA	+
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−	[[Category:Sri Lanka|F FROGS: INDIA	+
−	FROGS: INDIA]]	+
−	=Nyctibatrachus (night frogs)=	+	IPL 2020 has been postponed indefinitely due to coronavirus. But what is the greatest XI from the 12 seasons played so far? TOI pores over the statistics and rummages through the memories to come up with the team to beat every other team…
−	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=4-miniature-frogs-that-can-sit-on-coin-23022017006014  Manash Gohain, 4 miniature frogs that can sit on coin or thumbnail, Feb 23 2017: The Times of India]	+
		+	Shane Watson (RR, CSK): IPL’s Duracel man. Two-time MVP (2008, 2013). Biggame hunter (MoM, 2018 final). Pips David Warner, 3-time Orange Capper.
−	India now has the world's smallest known frogs.Seven such species were discovered by Professor S D Biju, known as the `Frogman of India' for his work on the amphibians, and his team from Delhi University in the Western Ghats. Of the newly discovered species, four are true miniatures with body lengths of 10-15 mm and can comfortably sit on a coin or a thumbnail.	+	M 134, R 3575, SR 139.53, 6s 177, W 92, Ave 29.15, ER 7.93
−	These species belong to the genus Nyctibatrachus, commonly known as night frogs.Evolutionary biologist David Wake of the University of California, Berkeley, expressed surprise because the known nyctibatrachids are relatively larger.	+	Chris Gayle (RCB, KXIP): Punisher. Pleasure-provider. Unstoppable sixmachine (326). Nobody comes close.
−	Dr Ariadne Angulo, head of Amphibian Special Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said the immediate priority for these newly described species, after being formally recognised as such, would be to assess their global extinction risk.	+	M 125, R 4484, Ave 41.13, SR 151.02, 6s 326
−	Unlike other frogs in the genus that are predominantly stream dwelling, the new miniature frogs were found among damp forest leaf litter or marsh vegetation. “The miniature species are locally abundant and fairly common but they have probably been overlooked all these years because of their extremely small size, secretive habitats and insect-like calls,“ said Sonali Garg, who undertook this study as part of her PhD research at DU.	+	Virat Kohli (RCB): IPL’s all-time highest scorer (5,412). Master of risk-free, highpressing cricket. Has smashed 191 sixes nonetheless.
		+	M 177, R 5412, Ave 37.84, SR 131.61, 6s 190
−	This discovery of new species of ancient origin can provide useful insights into the evolution of endemic frog lineages in the Western Ghats, which is a global amphibian hotspot.	+	AB de Villiers (DD, RCB): Virtuoso crowd-pleaser who demonstrates the outer limits of innovation in T20. When he’s in the mood, even a yorker travels beyond the ropes.
−	The past decade has witnessed a big increase in the number of new amphibian species found in this region. Of the 1,581 total new amphibians species reported across the world between 2006 and 2015, around 182 were from the Brazilian Atlantic forest, followed 159 in the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot, with 103 species from the Western Ghats region alone.	+	M 154, R 4395, Ave 39.95, SR 151.23, 6s 212
−	Many of these new species are facing threats from human activity. Dr Angulo said that because several of the species have been identified as being range-restricted and impacted by threats, it was important to conduct their extinction assessments. “Once the extinction risk is assessed, both research and conservation actions can be tailored accordingly ,“ she said.	+	MS Dhoni (CSK, RPS): Captain of the team. Ice cool as leader, and at the death. Barring Chacha Chowdhary, nobody calculates a target as precisely as him.
−	==Night frogs, Bombay-==	+	M 190, R 4432, Ave 42.20, SR 137.85, 6s 209, Ct 94, St 38
−	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=Discovered-Konkan-frog-species-touchless-sex-15062016008023 The Times of India], Jun 15 2016	+
−	[[File: Bombay night frogs.jpg|Picture courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=Discovered-Konkan-frog-species-touchless-sex-15062016008023 The Times of India], Jun 15 2016 |frame|500px]]	+
−	Manash Gohain	+	Andre Russell (DD, KKR): The enforcer. Possesses several gears; partial to the fifth. IPL’s highest strike rate: 186. Hustler with the ball. Two time MVP.
−	''' Discovered: Konkan frog species' touchless sex '''	+	M 64, R 1400, SR 186.42, 6s 120, W 55, Ave 27.96, ER 8.88
−	The female does much of the courting, the male is furiously possessive of her, but when it comes to intercourse, they make Victorian prudes seem rather forward.Meet the Bombay night frog, an oddity in the anuran world that reproduces without the mates touching each other.	+	Dwayne Bravo (CSK): Master of deception, especially at death. Flies like a bird, prowls like a panther. Can win games with bat too.
−	The complex world of frogs and toads comprising about 7,000 species has its own little Kama Sutra with six mating positions called amplexus modes (from the Latin word for `embrace') because the male clasps the female about the back during intercourse. But researchers led by Delhi University professor S D Bihu have found that the Bombay night frog adopts a seventh distinct position.	+
−	Called dorsal (back) straddle, it has the male spreading itself over the female's back with its feet clutching or resting over leaves and twigs on the sides. Bihu said the male appears to release sperm over the female's back and then moves away . After that, the female lays her eggs, which are fertilised by the sperm trickling down her back. In other frog species, females usually lay eggs during amplexus and males simultaneously release sperms to fertilise them.	+	M 134, R 1483, SR 128.28, 6s 61, W 147, Ave 24.61, ER 8.39
−	“This is a frog with a re markable reproductive behaviour, and this discovery is fundamental to understanding the evolutionary ecology and behaviour in anuran amphibians,“ said Biju.	+	Sunil Narine (KKR): Inscrutable offbreak bowler. Among the meanest and most consistent. Also has the second highest batting strike rate in IPL history (168). Two-time MVP too.
−	Bombay night frogs are found mainly near fast-flowing streams in the Western Ghats. They are classified as an ancient group of frogs that diversified 70­80 million years ago. In the breeding season, they can be seen calling from the ground and over hanging vegetation in large numbers, soon after sunset.	+	M 110, W 122, Ave 23.31, ER 6.67
−	The species also shows other rare sexual traits. For instance, the female, as also the male, croaks the mating call during breeding season, a behaviour seen in only 25 species worldwide. Fights between competing males are also common, and last until the intruder is thrown out.	+	Rashid Khan (SRH): IPL’s stingiest (ER 6.55). Match-winning leg-break bowler. Loves a challenge. Generally wins it.
−	The research team also observed eggs of Bombay night frog being eaten by snakes. It's the first documented observation of snakes eating frog eggs in India.	+	M 46, W 55, Ave 21.69, ER 6.55
−	The research team comprising scientists from University of Delhi, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, and University of Minnesota, USA, observed the frogs in the field for 40 nights during monsoon months between 2010 and 2012. Their findings were published in the journal `PeerJ'	+	Lasith Malinga (MI): That slinging action. That mop of hair. That sound of stumps crashing. IPL’s highest wicket-taker ever. Key figure in MI .
−	==The unique mating position of Bombay night frogs==	+	M 122, W 170, Ave 19.80, ER 7.14
−	[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/14/froggy-style-unique-mating-position-of-bombay-night-frogs-finally-revealed  Ian Sample, Science editor, The Guardian| Froggy style: unique mating position of Bombay night frogs finally revealed, 14 June 2016]	+
		+	Jasprit Bumrah (MI): New master of unplayable yorkers. Player of the Match in 2019 final. His best is yet to come.
−	The frogs are secretive, breed only at night, and always at the peak of monsoon season, but researchers have finally identified their remarkable mating habits	+	M 77, W 82, Ave 26.60, ER 7.55
−	They mostly come at night. Moments after sunset, and calling as they move, the Bombay night frogs climb high into the trees that overhang rivers swollen by the warm monsoon rains in the forests of Western Ghats in India.	+	12th man: Pollard (MI): All-purpose star
−	And then the action begins. On rain-soaked leaves, branches and tree trunks, the amphibians pair up. The female sends a willing signal by backing towards her male and touching his head with her toes. What follows is a mating position never seen before in the wild world of frog sex.	+	Coach: Stephen Fleming (CSK): With MS Dhoni as captain, he built the IPL’s most consistent team .
−	[[File: unique mating position of Bombay night frogs.jpg|The unique mating position of Bombay night frogs: a graphical abstract <br/> [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/14/froggy-style-unique-mating-position-of-bombay-night-frogs-finally-revealed  Ian Sample, Science editor, The Guardian/ PeerJ]|frame|500px]]
−	The Bombay Night frogs in Dorsal straddle: a new amplexus mode in frogs. Until Bombay night frogs fell under the spotlight, scientists had identified six mating positions among the world’s 6,650 frog species.	+	==The most memorable matches, 2008-19==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F04%2F18&entity=Ar01409&sk=DEFF1ADE&mode=text  —Compiled by Hindol Basu, April 18, 2020: ''The Times of India'']
−	“It’s remarkable,” said Sathyabhama Das Biju, an expert on amphibians at the University of Delhi, who has published a comprehensive report on the frogs’ sexual antics. “So far, this mating position is known only in Bombay night frogs.”	+	''' RAJASTHAN’S INCREDIBLE RUN '''
−	It was 2002 when Biju first witnessed Bombay night frogs mating. But the animals are secretive, they breed only at night, and always at the peak of monsoon season. He got the odd glimpse, but not much else. It took eight more years for Biju to launch a study dedicated to unravelling the beasts’ mysterious breeding habits.
−	Now, after 40 nights in the forest, Biju has amassed enough field notes, photographs and infrared night-vision video footage from 13 encounters to describe the breeding habits of the frogs, Nyctibatrachus humayuni, in detail.	+	Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals, not the most fancied bunch at the beginning of the tournament, scripted a fairytale win to stretch the bounds of the possible in the very first IPL in 2008. Of course, the tone had been set in the very first game on April 18, with KKR’s Brendon McCullum smashing an incredible ton.
−	Until Bombay night frogs fell under the spotlight, scientists had identified six mating positions among the world’s 6,650 frog species. The male might clasp the female around the waist, grab her armpits, hold her head, attach himself to her back with a gluey substance, sit back-to-back, or perhaps sit on her head. But the Bombay frogs do none of these.	+	''' SLAP AND TEARS '''
−	Before now, scientists had identified six mating positions among the world’s 6,650 frog species.	+	That image from 2008 of temperamental fast bowler Sreesanth crying after being slapped by Harbhajan Singh, while his Kings XI Punjab teammate VRV Singh consoled him, will stay etched in our minds. Harbhajan was suspended for the season. Sreesanth confessed later he had been heckling his senior India teammate.
−	Writing in the journal PeerJ, Biju and his colleagues describe how they filmed males clambering on to females. What happened next was unexpected. Instead of clasping his partner, the male took hold of nearby branches or leaves to steady himself. He then appeared to release his semen on to the female’s’ back. Soon afterwards, the female shrugged the male off, and laid her eggs, which, the researchers hypothesise, are “fertilised by semen running down her back and hind legs.”	+	''' FOREIGN SHORES '''
−	The researchers discover their remarkable findings.	+	The second season coincided with the general elections and the government refused to commit security personnel. Showcasing its financial might, the IPL was moved out of India, to South Africa, by then commissioner Lalit Modi.
−	Asked why the frog might have adopted the unusual approach to mating, Biju said: “We have no idea.” But the new position does have a name: the dorsal straddle. “It differs from the other six positions because the male does not grasp the female under her armpits or head, but instead places his hands on the leaf, branch or tree trunk the pair is sitting on,” he noted.	+	''' THE MONGOOSE BAT '''
−	The 5cm-long Bombay night frog is endemic to the Western Ghats, a mountain range and world heritage site that runs parallel to the west coast of India, spanning a thousand miles from Gujarat to Kerala. While males of all frog species call for mates, Biju’s field recordings reveal that female Bombay night frogs issue their own calls, making them one of only 25 frog species known to do so. He also recorded fights among males, with interlopers forcefully barged out of the way, and predation of the frogs’ fertilised eggs, with 80% of a female’s clutch being eaten by nearby snakes.	+	Australia’s Matthew Hayden unveiled his ‘Mongoose Bat’ in 2010, clobbering bowlers with what looked like a cross between a club and a baseball bat. The Mongoose had two distinguishing features: the handle was as long as the blade and the splice, which normal bats have in the blade, was built into the handle to guarantee a clean hitting surface. Needless to say, it was a hit.
−	==Western Ghats, February/ 2017: 7 new night frog species found==	+	''' GAYLESTORM '''
−	[http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/tiny-frog-species-found-in-western-ghats/article17342306.ece  T. Nandakumar, Tiny frog species found in Western Ghats, February 21, 2017: The Hindu]	+
		+	‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle upped the ante in Bangalore against Pune Warriors on April 23, 2013, scoring an unbelievable 175 off just 66 balls, the highest T20 individual score. Gayle hit 13 boundaries and an incredible 17 maximums.
−	[[File: A taxonomic approach with DNA studies and morphological comparisons was used to confirm them. .jpg|A taxonomic approach with DNA studies and morphological comparisons was used to confirm them. ; [http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/tiny-frog-species-found-in-western-ghats/article17342306.ece  T. Nandakumar, Tiny frog species found in Western Ghats, February 21, 2017: The Hindu]|frame|500px]]	+	''' THE DARK UNDERBELLY '''
−	Five of the seven new ‘Night Frogs’ have small ranges and their habitat is under threat, say scientists	+	A spot-fixing scandal rocked the league in 2013 when the Delhi police arrested three Rajasthan Royals cricketers, including Sreesanth. Soon after, Mumbai Police arrested film actor Vindu Dara Singh and CSK’s former team principal Gurunath Meiyappan for alleged betting, cheating and links with bookies. RR team co-owner Raj Kundra too was found to have placed bets on his team. The Supreme Court appointed a committee to probe the affair. Eventually, CSK and RR were banned for two years. The order, which came in 2015, meant the two teams missed the 2016 and 2017 IPL editions.
−	Scientists exploring the forests of the Western Ghats have come across four new species of tiny frogs no bigger than a human thumbnail, which make a distinctive chirping sound comparable to the one of a cricket.	+	''' MUMBAI’S COMEBACK '''
−	These species are among the seven new ‘Night Frogs’ discovered by a team of researchers from the University of Delhi and the Kerala Forest Department, who spent five years surveying the global biodiversity hotspot.	+	In 2015, Mumbai Indians lost five out of their first six games, but the team never stopped believing in its abilities. In a dream comeback, they went on to win nine of their remaining 10 matches to lift the title for the second time.
−	‘Night Frogs’ belong to the Nyctibatrachus genus endemic to the Western Ghats and represent an ancient group of frogs that diversified on the Indian landmass approximately 70 to 80 million years ago.	+	''' VIRAT, ABD RUN RIOT '''
−	The scientists were surprised by the relative abundance of the previously unknown species at their collection localities.	+	The 2016 IPL season will always be known for the amazing batsmanship by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. RCB needed to win four matches in a row to qualify for the playoffs. Kohli and De Villiers recorded a partnership of 229 runs (best in the IPL) against Gujarat Lions to set the ball rolling. Kohli smacked 109 off 55 balls, while De Villiers scored a unbeaten 129 off 52 balls. This was the first time two batsmen scored centuries in an IPL innings.
−	“The minuscule frogs have probably been overlooked because of their extremely small size, secretive habitats and cricket like calls,” says Sonali Garg, who undertook the study as part of her Ph.D research at the University of Delhi.	+	''' KOHLI’S FINE FORM '''
−	The scientists used an integrated taxonomic approach that included DNA studies, detailed morphological comparisons and bioacoustics to confirm the new species. The findings have been published in the latest issue of PeerJ, an open access journal.	+	Kohli almost single-handedly guided his team to the title clash in 2016. With 973 runs in 16 games at 81.08, he was the highest scorer. No other batsman has been able to score as many runs in a single season.
−	'''Hydroelectric project'''	+	''' ‘MANKADING’ CONTROVERSY '''
−	While turning the spotlight on the amphibian diversity of the Western Ghats, the discovery also highlights the threat posed by human activities to the species.	+	In 2019, Ravichandran Ashwin, captaining Kings XI Punjab, ran out Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end without giving him any prior warning. That ‘Mankading’, as the dismissal is known, cleaved the cricketing world in two and sparked off heated debate on the spirit of the game. Though this is a legally permissible dismissal, the issue is yet to be satisfactorily resolved.
−	The Athirappilly Night Frog was found close to the Athirappilly waterfalls, the proposed site of a hydroelectric project, while the Sabarimala Night Frog was discovered near the hill shrine which receives lakhs of pilgrims every year. The Radcliffe’s Night frog and the Kadalar Night Frog were reported from plantation areas.	+	''' ‘CAPTAIN COOL’ LOSES HIS COOL '''
−	“Over 32% of the frog species in the Western Ghats are already threatened with extinction. Out of the seven new species, five face considerable anthropogenic threats and require immediate conservation,” says Professor S.D Biju, who led the study and has formally described over 80 new species of amphibians from India.	+	The usually unflappable MS Dhoni lost his composure in a match against RR last year, walking out on to the pitch after just having been dismissed, and lashing out at the umpires over a no-ball confusion. It just wasn’t cricket from one of the game’s great role models.
−	'''Restricted range'''	+	''' BLOODIED BUT NOT OUT bb
−	“Because several of the new species have been identified as being range restricted and impacted by threats, it is important to assess their extinction risks and tailor conservation strategies for both species and habitats,” said Ariadne Angulo, co-Chair, Amphibian Specialist Group, IUCN, in an emailed response.	+	Shane Watson’s knock for CSK in the 2019 IPL final against Mumbai Indians was one for the ages. He batted through the pain barrier and a bloodied left knee. His 59-ball 80 nearly saw CSK pull off a 150-run chase against MI. Watson needed six stitches after the game.
−	The discovery has taken the total number of known Nyctibatrachus species to 35, of which 20% are diminutive in size (less than 18 mm).	+	[[Category:Cinema-TV-Pop|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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−	As many as 103 new amphibian species have been described from the Western Ghats region between 2006 and 2015.	+	=Indian Premier League: The economics of =
		+	[[File:ipl.jpg|frame|500px]]
		+	[[File: crick salary.jpg|2016: Salary of retained players; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=02_01_2016_019_003_011&type=P&artUrl=VIRAT-TOP-OF-THE-IPL-PILE-02012016019003&eid=31808 ''The Times of India''] Jan 02 2016|frame|500px]]
−	==Western Ghats, December/ 2017: New night frog species found- ''Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi''==	+	==Advertising revenues==
−	[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/malabar-sanctuary-home-to-new-night-frog/article22333739.ece  January 1, 2018: ''The Hindu'']	+	Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of Indian Premier League (IPL) has brought on board a total of eight sponsors for the sixth edition of the Twenty20 tournament, which would help it rake in Rs 200 crore more over last year, after lowering its ad rates by 10-15%. Three more sponsors are expected to join over the next two weeks.
−	[[File: Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi is a species of night frog from Western Ghats in December 2017.jpg|Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi is a species of night frog from Western Ghats in December 2017 <br/> From: [http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/malabar-sanctuary-home-to-new-night-frog/article22333739.ece  January 1, 2018: ''The Hindu'']|frame|500px]]	+	The presenting sponsors — PepsiCo and Vodafone — have shelled out around Rs 40-60 crore each while the associate sponsors, which include Tata Photon, Karbonn tablets, Godrej, Samsung Mobiles, Panasonic and Usha Appliances, have paid around Rs 25-30 crore each for being seen on the channel during the tournament.
		+	MSM is looking to earn Rs 950 crore as advertising revenue from IPL-6, up 27% from Rs 750 crore it garnered last year, a senior executive from the company told TOI.
−	''Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi is a new species of night frog from Western Ghats''	+	This will be the first time that the IPL will have three feeds — the regular one on SET max, while Sony Six will broadcast a Hindi feed along with an HD one.
−	A new frog from Kerala is the latest contribution to the spurt in amphibian discoveries across India: scientists have just discovered the Mewa Singh’s Night frog, belonging to a genus endemic to the Western Ghats, from Kozhikode’s Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary.	+	Some of the other sponsors likely to be signed on soon for the tournament, which starts on April 3, are Cadbury and Havells — both have had a long-term association with the IPL. This year, MSM has two presenting sponsors and is expected to close nine associate sponsors, up from only five which it managed last year. The channel has also struck large deals with Coca-Cola, Parle Agro, Marico, Berger Paints and Airtel, besides others, filling 70% of its inventory.
−	According to a scientific paper published on December 26 in The Journal of Threatened Taxa (an international journal on conservation and taxonomy), the new night frog Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi is light brown in colour with an off-white underside, and sports faintly wrinkled skin with prominent granular projections.	+	“Last year, we had increased the ad rates but could not sell the entire inventory. Our strategy to reduce rates has worked very well and we have seen the interest levels go up. Advertisers from all sectors are on board this year, signaling a revival in sentiments,” said Rohit Gupta, president, MSM.
−	Since many frogs in the genus Nyctibatrachus look similar, scientists from institutes, including the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (Pune, Maharashtra) and the Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) used both physical characteristics as well as genetic methods to confirm the frog as a new species. Using tissue samples of 10 collected specimens, the scientists analysed portions of two genes and found that it varied enough from other closely-related species to make the Mewa Singh’s night frog a different species. They also found that the frog’s genetically closest relatives are the Athirappilly night frog (found south of the Palakkad Gap in Thrissur and Idukki) and the Kempholey night frog (found in the northern Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka).	+	During 2012, a 10-second ad spot during the IPL had a price tag of Rs 4.5-5.5 lakh, making it a highly premium property. However, reduction in rates has made it far more affordable, said media planners who buy TV airtime for advertisers. “If TV ratings had to fall, it had to fall last year. Now they have stabilized. It is definitely value for money at this rate and with lesser risk,” said Ajit Varghese, MD (South Asia), Maxus, which has bought airtime for telecom major Vodafone.
−	Morphologically, the Mewa Singh’s night frog can be distinguished from these similar-looking and genetically close relatives by several physical characteristics, including the pattern of its webbed fingers and toes. The frog has been named after wildlife scientist Mewa Singh, in honour of his contributions to behavioural ecology and primate studies.	+	The IPL reached 170 million eyeballs and clocked an average rating of around 3.27 last year, according to TAM Media Research. MSM’s Gupta said he is expecting the reach to further grow this season. “If there is a big product launch or a new ad campaign, this is a large platform which is a must for any brand. It is a property which is targeted at male audiences, so it works well for brands which directly communicate with this audience group,” said Basabdutta Chowdhury, CEO of Platinum Media, a division of media buying group Madison. This year, soft drink giants PepsiCo is the new title sponsor of the IPL, having paid Rs 396 crore for the next five seasons.
−	The new frog is currently known only from Peruvannamuzhi in the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, where the scientists found it in a small stream running along the Peruvannamuzhi dam.
−	“It is an interesting species because of this currently-known restricted distribution,” says author Sanjay Molur of ZOO. “We will need more surveys to understand these frogs better.”
−	'''Close relative'''	+	[[Category:Cinema-TV-Pop|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:India|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links|INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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−	What is unusual is that the frog’s genetically closest relative — the Athirappilly night frog — is found far away and across the Palakkad gap, says Mr. Molur. “Hence the species is also unique from a genetic perspective,” he says.	+	=Coaches in IPL=
		+	==As in Nov==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F11%2F29&entity=Ar02700&sk=512B7DDB&mode=text  Asheem Mukerji, Nov 30, 2019: ''The Times of India'']
−	Frogs in the genus Nyctibatrachus, commonly known as night frogs, are found only in the Western Ghats mountain range. The addition of the Mewa Singh’s night frog to this group brings the total number of night frogs to 36.	+	''' COACHES IN IPL '''
−	=See also=	+
−	[[Delhi: Wildlife (Fauna)]]	+
−	[[Category:China|F FROGS: INDIAFROGS: INDIA	+	Rajasthan Royals I Indian coaches: 1 (Batting coach: Amol Muzumdar); Foreign coaches: 2 (Head coach: Andrew McDonald-Aus, Fast bowling coach: Steffan Jones-Eng)
−	FROGS: INDIA]]	+
−	[[Category:Fauna|F FROGS: INDIAFROGS: INDIA	+	Kings XI Punjab I Indian coaches: 1 (Head coach: Anil Kumble); Foreign coaches: 2 (Fast bowling coach: Courtney Walsh-WI, Batting coach: Geaorge Bailey-Aus)
−	FROGS: INDIA]]	+
−	[[Category:India|F FROGS: INDIAFROGS: INDIA	+	Delhi Capitals I Indian coaches: 0; Foreign coaches: 3 (Head Coach: Ricky Ponting-Aus, Fast bowling coach: James Hopes-Aus, Spin coach: Samuel Badree-WI)
−	FROGS: INDIA]]	+
−	[[Category:Sri Lanka|F FROGS: INDIAFROGS: INDIA	+	Kolkata Knight Riders I Indian coaches: 0 Foreign coaches: 3 (Head coach: Brendon McCullum-NZ, Chief mentor: David Hussey-Aus, Bowling coach: Kyle Mills-NZ)
−	FROGS: INDIA]]	+
		+	Mumbai Indians I Indian Coaches: 1 (Robin Singh); Foreign coaches: 2 (Head coach: Mahela Jayawardene-SL, Bowling coach: Shane Bond-NZ)
		+
		+	Chennai Super Kings I Indian coaches: 0 Foreign coaches: 3 (Head coach: Stephen Fleming-NZ, Batting coach: Mike Hussey-Aus, Bowling Consultant: Eric Simmons-SA)
		+
		+	Sunrisers Hyderabad I Indian coaches: 0; Foreign coaches: 1 (Head coach: Trevor Bayliss-Eng)
		+	Royal Challengers Bangalore I Indian coaches: 0; Foreign coaches: 2 (Head coach: Simon Katich-Aus, Bowling coach: Adam Griffith-Aus)
		+
		+	[[Category:Cinema-TV-Pop|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:India|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Law,Constitution,Judiciary|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links|INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+
		+	=Controversies: 2008-16=
		+	[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/ipl/Controversies-that-have-rocked-IPL/listshow/51820860.cms ''The Times of India''], December 3, 2016
		+	[[File: Controversies associated with Indian Premier Leage, 2008-2016.jpg| Controversies associated with Indian Premier Leage, 2008-2016; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=14_04_2016_029_017_002&type=P&artUrl=INDIAN-PROBLEM-LEAGUE-14042016029017&eid=31808 ''The Times of India''], April 14, 2016|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	1.
		+	2016: Maharashtra asked to shift IPL matches
		+
		+
		+	Bombay High Court asks IPL to shift 13 matches out of Maharashtra due to severe drought in the state.
		+
		+	2.
		+	2015: CSK and RR suspended
		+
		+
		+	Supreme Court suspends CSK and RR for two years. Two new teams, Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions, are introduced. Rajasthan Royals’ leggie Pravin Tambe alleges that his Mumbai teammate Hiken Shah had approached him to fix a few games.
		+
		+	3.
		+	2014: IPL 7 conducted under Gavaskar’s supervision
		+
		+
		+	The first half of IPL-7 is moved out of India to the UAE due to polls, and by SC orders the event is conducted under ex-captain Sunil Gavaskar. The shifting of the final from Mumbai to Bangalore too causes a furore.
		+
		+	4.
		+	2013: Betting allegations hit CSK & RR
		+
		+
		+	Delhi Police arrest three Rajasthan Royals players — S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan — on charges of spot-fixing. The scandal overwhelms the IPL when Mumbai police haul up BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings’ team principal Gurunath Meiyappan on charges of alleged betting. The Rajasthan Royals face further trouble when Delhi Police level same charges against co-owner and Raj Kundra. Following intervention by the Supreme Court, Srinivasan is eventually eased out after a long-drawn battle.
		+
		+	5.
		+	2012: Shah Rukh Khan banned from Wankhede Stadium premises
		+
		+
		+	A sting operation exposes cricketers willing to bowl no-balls or indulge in under-hand dealings with franchises, leading the BCCI to ban Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali. I t leads to an uproar in Parliament to stop IPL. A heated on-field argument between opposition players Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir also makes for ugly viewing. Then, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is banned from the Wankhede Stadium premises after a scuffle with a Mumbai Cricket Association official. To top it all, RCB cricketer Luke Pomersbach is arrested on charges of molesting an American and assaulting her boyfriend.
		+
		+	6.
		+	2010: Sunanda Pushkar’s ‘sweat equity’ in Kochi
		+
		+
		+	Just before IPL 3, the governing council brings in two new teams, Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers, only for Modi to tweet about shady shareholding patterns and reveal Sunanda Pushkar’s ‘sweat equity’ in the Kochi set-up. The controversy forces Pushkar’s husband, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, to resign. Modi too is forced out.
		+
		+	7.
		+	2009: IPL 2 shifted to South Africa
		+
		+
		+	Then home minister P Chidambaram refuses to provide security for IPL 2 because of general elections, leading then-IPL commissioner Lalit Modi to shift the entire tournament to South Africa.
		+
		+	8.
		+	2008: Harbhajan slaps Sreesanth.
		+
		+
		+	Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh slaps India teammate S Sreesanth in Mohali and is banned, creating a furore.
		+
		+	==Spot fixing case: 2013==
		+	[[File: Some details, Players involved in IPL-spot fixing.jpg|Some details: Players involved in IPL-spot fixing; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=26_07_2015_001_043_012&type=P&artUrl=Watertight-fixing-case-full-of-holes-Sree-Chandila-26072015001043&eid=31808 ''The Times of India''], July 25, 2015|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: A timeline, spot-fixing in IPL, May 2013-July 2015.jpg| A timeline: Spot-fixing in IPL, May 2013-July 2015; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=26_07_2015_021_037_002&type=P&artUrl=SPOT-FIXING-TIMELINE-HOW-THE-CASE-AGAINST-RR-26072015021037&eid=31808 ''The Times of India''], July 25, 2015|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	''See the graphics''
		+
		+	Players involved in IPL-spot fixing
		+
		+	and
		+
		+	A timeline: Spot-fixing in IPL, May 2013-July 2015
		+	==Dhoni on the suspension of Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIM%2F2019%2F03%2F22&entity=Ar01800&sk=98D30305&mode=text    ‘WHAT WAS THE PLAYERS’ MISTAKE?’| But Captain Dhoni Admits CSK Erred During 2013 Fixing Saga| March 2019 | PTI]
		+
		+
		+	In July 2015, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended from the cash-rich league for two years for betting activities by their key officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra during the 2013 season.
		+
		+	While Dhoni agreed that then BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Meiyappan was part of the team setup, he said, in what capacity, is open to debate.
		+
		+	“Initially, when Guru’s name came up, (we knew) he was part of the team, all said and done. But in what capacity, that is debatable. Was he the owner, the team principal, the motivator... what exactly was he?
		+
		+	“I don’t know if anyone from the franchise introduced Guru to us as the owner... we all knew him as the son-in-law.”
		+
		+	What mistake did the players make, asked Mahendra Singh Dhoni, opening up on a phase of life made “most difficult and depressing” by the 2013 IPL fixing scandal. Dhoni broke his silence in a docudrama aptly titled Roar of the Lion, which focuses on the scandal that rocked Indian cricket and the ensuing fairy tale comeback by Chennai Super Kings following a two-year suspension for its management’s role in spot-fixing.
		+
		+	Dhoni, who led the CSK to three IPL titles, said they knew a “harsh punishment” was on the cards.
		+
		+	“We did deserve the punishment but the only thing is the quantum of the punishment. Finally we got to know that CSK will be banned for two years. There was a mixed feeling that time. Because you take a lot of things personally and, as a captain, question what did the team do wrong,” Dhoni stated.
		+
		+	“Yes there was mistake from our side (the franchise) but were the players involved in this? What mistake did we, as players, do to go through all of that?”
		+
		+	Recalling the torrid time when insinuations and allegations flew thick and fast, Dhoni said fixing a match requires the involvement of the majority of players.
		+
		+	“They started showcasing in the media or social media as if the team was involved. Is it possible (in cricket)? Yes it is possible, anyone can do spot-fixing. Umpires can do that, batsmen can, bowlers can... but match-fixing needs the involvement of the majority of the players.”
		+
		+	=The IPL numbers=
		+	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=LIKE-A-ROW-BEFORE-A-BIG-FILMS-RELEASE-15072015034007 ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	==IPL broadcast rights==
		+
		+	In 2008, the consortium of India's Sony Television network and the Singaporebased World Sports Group (WSG) had secured the rights of the IPL for ten years at a cost of more than $1 billion.As part of the deal, the consortium would pay the BCCI $908 million for the telecast rights and $108 million for the promotion of the tournament. However, in a reworked deal next year, BCCI signed a new deal with MSMPL (Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd) and World Sport Group (WSG) for Rs 8,200 crore with 80% of the amount to come from MSMPL. Later WSG exited the deal after a one-time payoff.
		+
		+	==IPL title rights==
		+
		+	DLF had bought the title rights of the IPL for five years in 2008 for Rs 200 crore.In 2013, Pepsi bid for the rights for the next five years and won it at Rs 396 crore.
		+	===2017-22: Vivo pays Rs 2,199 crore===
		+	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=Value-of-IPL-title-rights-surges-455-as-28062017001045  K ShriniwasRao, Value of IPL title rights surges 455% as Vivo shells out Rs 2,200cr, June 28, 2017: The Times of India]
		+
		+	[[File: Title Rights, Indian Premier League.jpg|Title Rights, Indian Premier League; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=28_06_2017_029_045_007&type=P&artUrl=Renewal-of-a-fruitful-IPL-relationship-28062017029045&eid=31808 June 28, 2017: The Times of India]|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	''See graphic, '' 'Title Rights, Indian Premier League'
		+
		+
		+
		+	Cricket administration may be going through turbulent times in India, but the game's fortunes continue to prosper in a manner that defies imagination .
		+
		+	Chinese mobile-maker Vivo retained the Indian Premier League (IPL) title rights for the next five years at Rs 2,199 crore, a 455% increase over the previous contract. Vivo had taken over the rights from PepsiCo from the 2015 season onwards after the latter expressed its inability to continue with its Rs 396 crore deal for five years. Pepsi had bought the title rights from the 2013 season onwards after IPL's first-ever title rights deal worth Rs 200 crore for five years ­ signed in 2008 with real estate company DLF ­ ended post the 2012 season.
		+
		+	Breaking it down on a per year basis, the value of IPL's title rights has soared from Rs 40 crore annually (Rs 200 crore from 2008-2012) to Rs 79.2 crore (Rs 396 crore for 2013-2017) ­ to Rs 439.8 crore (Rs 2199 crore for 2018-2022). Or, to put it another way, the value doubled after the first five years of IPL and shot up another five times in the following five years.Vivo's competitor and another major Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Oppo, bid Rs 1430 crore ­ Rs 769 crore less than what Vivo brought to the table. Oppo had beaten Vivo in March this year when it went on to grab the jersey rights of the Indian cricket team ­ men, women, seniors and juniors ­ for Rs 1,079 crore, a four-fold increase over the previous deal with Star India. Interestingly, Vivo and Oppo are owned by the same Chinese company -BBK Electronics -which also owns the OnePlus mobile brand.
		+
		+	“We received an overwhelming response for the title sponsorship rights and we are glad to have Vivo back on board. It is a renewal of a fruitful relationship with the brand that will extend for the next five years,“ BCCI's acti n g s e c re t a r y A m i t ab h Choudhary said.
		+
		+	Chinese mobile companies, which dominate the phone industry across the world outside of giants Apple and Samsung's considerable clout, have clearly found cricket to be the ideal platform to showcase their wares. Market sources credit the `invasion' to the incomparable popularity of cricket in the country, one that can be equated with football in Europe and baseball in the Americas merely for the eyeballs it manages to generate.
		+
		+	=Valuation of the IPL=
		+	==2014-19==
		+	[[File: The valuation of the IPL (2014-19) and its franchises (2019).jpg|The valuation of the IPL (2014-19) and its franchises (2019) <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F03%2F04&entity=Ar02700&sk=B0C28AE8&mode=text  K. Shriniwas Rao, March 4, 2020: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphic''':
		+
		+	'' The valuation of the IPL (2014-19) and its franchises (2019) ''
		+
		+	[[Category:Cinema-TV-Pop|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:Cricket|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:India|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:Law,Constitution,Judiciary|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+
		+	=IPL jinxed for team owners?=
		+	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=IPL-star-crossed-Team-owners-hit-by-bad-17072015001032 ''The Times of India''], Jul 17 2015
		+	[[File: Some notable IPL team owners.jpg|Some notable IPL team owners; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=IPL-star-crossed-Team-owners-hit-by-bad-17072015001032 ''The Times of India''], July 17, 2015|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	K ShriniwasRao
		+
		+	A leading Mumbai businessman, once interested in buying an Indian Premier League franchise today wants nothing to do with the glamorous cricket league. He believes IPL is bringing bad luck to team owners.
		+	Dramatic as it may sound, a quick look at where the owners have landed up post their IPL buys tends to lend credence to this expression of superstition. The businessman was insistent: “Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy , Venkattram Reddy , the Maran brothers, even Lalit Modi -just look where they are.Isn't it eerie?“ As facts go, the businessman isn't off the mark. Subrata Roy is in jail, Reddy was ar rested, Mallya is in trouble with the authorities, Maranowned Sun TV is having prob lems with the home ministry over security clearances, Lalit Modi is wanted by ED, and Sunanda Pushkar is dead. Even love has gone missing from Ness Wadia and Pre ity Zinta's lives. And N Srinivasan has lost his prized BCCI president's chair.
		+
		+	Wait, not just Srinivasan.His son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, a mere cricket enthusiast according to his father-inlaw, has been pulled up by the Supreme Court for talking to bookmakers and banned for life from cricket. Ditto with another part owner, Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals.
		+
		+	Those who have bucked the trend are movie star Shah Rukh Khan, India's biggest businessman Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita, and the Delhi franchisee GMR.
		+
		+	Heck, the league itself is now in massive trouble. The judgment delivered by the SC-appointed Justice Lodha committee has reduced the IPL to just six teams of which, again, some are in serious financial trouble.
		+
		+	T Venkattram Reddy, the strapping boss of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, from Hyderabad, lost his team Deccan Chargers after cases of financial fraud with several banks began surfacing post 2011.
		+
		+	And the owners who replaced the team in Hyderabad ­ Maran Brothers of Sun TV ­ are also struggling. Once the eyes and ears of former DMK chief M Karunanidhi, the Chennai media barons are no longer politically protected.Apart from the cloud over their TV channels, they have had to sell their airline SpiceJet back to the original promoter.
		+
		+	Is this the reason why Parth Jindal of Bangalore-based JSW Group doesn't want to get into the IPL?
		+
		+	=YEAR-WISE HISTORY=
		+	=2013-14=
		+	[[File: IPL 2013.jpg|IPL: 2013; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=15_07_2015_034_007_009&type=P&artUrl=LIKE-A-ROW-BEFORE-A-BIG-FILMS-RELEASE-15072015034007&eid=31808 ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+	[[File: IPL 2014-2015.jpg|IPL: 2014-2015; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=15_07_2015_034_007_009&type=P&artUrl=LIKE-A-ROW-BEFORE-A-BIG-FILMS-RELEASE-15072015034007&eid=31808 ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+	See graphics
		+
		+	IPL: 2013
		+
		+	IPL: 2014-2015
		+
		+	=2016=
		+	[[File: The IPL auction of Feb 2016, the main buys.jpg| The IPL auction of Feb 2016: The main buys; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=07_02_2016_001_045_002&type=P&artUrl=Watson-top-buy-but-rookie-Indians-story-of-07022016001045&eid=31808 ''The Times of India''], February 7, 2016|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: IPL, 2016, some factual information.jpg|IPL, 2016, some facts; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=IPL-2016-FAST-FACTS-31052016027058 ''The Times of India''], May 31, 2016|frame|500px]]
		+	See graphics
		+
		+	The IPL auction of Feb 2016: The main buys
		+
		+	IPL, 2016, some facts
		+
		+	=2017=
		+	==Players retained and offloaded==
		+	[[File: Players retained and released, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore.jpg|Players retained and released, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=IPL-2017-BIG-NAMES-OFFLOADED-BY-TEAMS-20122016024012 ''The Times of India''], December 20, 2016|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: Players retained and released, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune supergiants.jpg|Players retained and released, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune supergiants; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=IPL-2017-BIG-NAMES-OFFLOADED-BY-TEAMS-20122016024012 ''The Times of India''], December 20, 2016|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: Players retained and released, Gujarat Lions and Kings Xi Punjab.jpg|Players retained and released, Gujarat Lions and Kings Xi Punjab; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=IPL-2017-BIG-NAMES-OFFLOADED-BY-TEAMS-20122016024012 ''The Times of India''], December 20, 2016|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: Players retained and released, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians.jpg|Players retained and released, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=IPL-2017-BIG-NAMES-OFFLOADED-BY-TEAMS-20122016024012 ''The Times of India''], December 20, 2016|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time India XI.jpg|The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time India XI; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=20_04_2017_022_015_001&type=P&artUrl=LEAGUE-OF-CHAMPIONS-THE-GREATEST-IPL-TEAMS-OF-20042017022015&eid=31808 The Times of India], April 20, 2017 |frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time international players XI.jpg|The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time international players XI; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=20_04_2017_022_015_001&type=P&artUrl=LEAGUE-OF-CHAMPIONS-THE-GREATEST-IPL-TEAMS-OF-20042017022015&eid=31808 The Times of India], April 20, 2017 |frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time international players XI 2.jpg|The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time international players XI; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=20_04_2017_022_015_001&type=P&artUrl=LEAGUE-OF-CHAMPIONS-THE-GREATEST-IPL-TEAMS-OF-20042017022015&eid=31808 The Times of India], April 20, 2017|frame|500px]]
		+	See graphics,
		+
		+	Players retained and released, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore
		+
		+	Players retained and released, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune supergiants
		+
		+	Players retained and released, Gujarat Lions and Kings Xi Punjab
		+
		+	Players retained and released, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians
		+
		+	The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time India XI
		+
		+	The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time international players XI
		+
		+	==The 2017 auctions==
		+	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=TOP-10-BUYS-IPL-USHERS-IN-ENGLISH-SUMMER-21022017025030  Manuja Veerappa, Feb 21 2017: The Times of India]
		+
		+
		+	'''Stokes Sets League Record As Highest-Paid Foreign Player; Mills, Woakes Too Cash In'''
		+
		+	England's cricketers dominated proceedings and extracted the maximum from franchises as aspirants went under the hammer in the 10th edition of the IPL auction. Leading the pack was allrounder Ben Stokes, 25, who became the most expensive overseas IPL player when he was snapped up by Pune for Rs. 14.50 crore.
		+	Stokes' teammate Tymal Mills was the next big gainer at Rs 12 crore. Starting off at a base price of Rs 50 lakh, the left-arm pacer saw aggressive bidding from Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB, looking to fill the void left by Mitchell Starc, splurged on the 24-year-old, a T20 specialist who is expected to be available through the league.
		+
		+	Another English player to come at a hefty price was all-rounder Chris Woakes, who went to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 4.2 crore while his T20 skipper Eoin Morgan (Rs 2 crore) found a buyer in Punjab.
		+
		+	Although the teams had 354 players to choose from, only 160 came into the main auction. While the dominance of the England players was expected, the eye-popping figures was surprising since most of them would be available only during the league stage.
		+
		+	The other big foreign buys were Kagiso Rabada (SA, Delhi Daredevils, Rs 5 cr), Trent Boult (NZ, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rs 5 cr), Pat Cummins (Aus, Delhi Daredevils, Rs 4.5 cr) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (Aus, KKR, Rs 3.5cr).
		+
		+	It was a windfall for domestic cricketers too, led by all-rounder Karn Sharma. The top pick in 2014 (Rs 3.8 crore) emerged the highest paid Indian this time with Mumbai Indians spending Rs 3.2 crore on him. He was followed by Tamil Nadu pacer T Natarajan (Rs 3 crore, Kings XI Punjab). Off the maximum 77 players, including 29 overseas who could be picked, 66 players found teams on the day, 27 of them being foreign cricketers. Pune looked like they had an expensive shopping list and spent Rs 17.2 crore off the Rs 17.5 crore in their kitty on buying nine cricketers.
		+
		+	In contrast, Gujarat Lions barely loosened their purse strings, spending a mere Rs 3.85 crore off the Rs 14.35 crore they had. But they still managed to take home 11 players with Jason Roy (England) at Rs 1 crore being their most expensive purchase.
		+
		+	In a first, two Afghans and one UAE player Chirag Suri will be handed their maiden IPL contracts. It is the only instance of Associate players being picked after Ryan ten Doeschate of Holland.
		+
		+	Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad welcomed the Afghans -Rashid Khan Arman and Mohammed Nabi. Arman, the 18-year-old leggie who made his international debut in 2015, went for a jaw-dropping Rs 4 crore (base price: 50 lakh) with the VVS Laxman-mentored SRH winning the bidding war with Mumbai Indians. All-rounder Nabi, on the other hand, had to settle for his base price of Rs 30 lakh. Suri, went to Gujarat for his base price of Rs 10 lakh.
		+
		+	Prior to Stokes going under the hammer, the proceedings at the auction resembled the lull before a storm. Even before auctioneer Richard Madley could finish announcing Stokes' name, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians raised the paddle.
		+
		+	While RCB pulled out at the Rs 4-crore mark, Delhi Daredevils jumped into the fray at Rs 4.20 crore and dropped out soon after. Mumbai, who came into the auction with a purse Rs. 11.555 crore, stretched themselves until Rs 10 crore.
		+
		+	===The surprise omissions of Feb 2017===
		+	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=SURPRISE-MISSES-21022017025042  Feb 21 2017, The Times of India]
		+
		+
		+	'''NO TAKERS FOR TAHIR, ISHANT SHARMA'''
		+
		+	ISHANT SHARMA He is the highest-ranked bowler in ODIs and T20s, but South African spinner Imran Tahir failed to find buyers at Monday's auction. Tahir has 29 wickets in three IPL seasons since 2014 and had formed a lethal combination with Amit Mishra for Delhi Daredevils last season. Also missing the IPL bus were India pacer Ishant Sharma, Windies all-rounder
		+
		+	Jason Holder and Aussies Brad Haddin and Nathan Lyon.
		+
		+	'''LIST OF ESTABLISHED NAMES WHICH WERE IGNORED:'''
		+
		+	Ishant Sharma (2cr), Jason Holder (1.5cr), Brad Haddin (1.5cr), Nathan Lyon (1.5cr), Jonny Bairstow (1.5cr), Kyle Abbott (1.5cr), Alex Hales (1cr), Marlon Samuels (1cr), Ross Taylor (50L), Irfan Pathan (50L), Brad Hogg (50L), Mitchell Santner (50L), Imran Tahir (50L), Ish Sodhi (30L).In brackets: Base price
		+
		+	===The surprise omissions of Feb 2017/ 2===
		+	The IPL auction of Feb 2017, The main buys
		+
		+	[[File: The IPL auction of Feb 2017, The main buys 1.jpg|The IPL auction of Feb 2017, The main buys; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=21_02_2017_025_030_010&type=P&artUrl=TOP-10-BUYS-IPL-USHERS-IN-ENGLISH-SUMMER-21022017025030&eid=31808 The Times of India]|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: The IPL auction of Feb 2017, The main buys 2.jpg|The IPL auction of Feb 2017, The main buys; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=21_02_2017_025_030_010&type=P&artUrl=TOP-10-BUYS-IPL-USHERS-IN-ENGLISH-SUMMER-21022017025030&eid=31808 The Times of India]|frame|500px]]
		+
		+
		+	[[File: How the teams stack up after the Feb 2017 auction.jpg| How the teams stack up after the Feb 2017 auction; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=NUMBER-CRUNCHING-21022017025050 The Times of India], Feb 21, 2017|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: Unknown Indian players who made it big at the Feb 2017 auctions.jpg|Unknown Indian players who made it big at the Feb 2017 auctions; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=UNKNOWN-INDIAN-HITS-21022017025053 The Times of India], Feb 21, 2017|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphics'''
		+
		+	The IPL auction of Feb 2017, The main buys (1 and 2)
		+
		+	How the teams stack up after the Feb 2017 auction
		+
		+	Unknown Indian players who made it big at the Feb 2017 auctions
		+
		+	==2017/ IPL- 10==
		+	[[File: The highlights of IPL- 10, 2017.jpg| The highlights of IPL- 10, 2017 ; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=22_05_2017_001_059_002&type=P&artUrl=MUMBAI-PULL-OFF-SUPER-WIN-LIFT-IPL-TROPHY-22052017001059&eid=31808 The Times of India], May 22, 2017|frame|500px]]
		+	''' See graphic. ''' The highlights of IPL- 10, 2017
		+	===Did high player salaries result in success?===
		+	[http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=MONEY-ALONE-CANT-WIN-YOU-GAMES-23052017019017  Manuja Veerappa, May 23, 2017:  The Times of India]
		+
		+	'''See graphic'''
		+
		+	[[File:Crorepatis, how they fared, IPL-10, 2017.jpg|Crorepatis, how they fared, IPL-10, 2017; [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=MONEY-ALONE-CANT-WIN-YOU-GAMES-23052017019017 The Times of India], May 23, 2017, Manuja Veerappa|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''IPL-10: Some Investments Went Down The Drain Although A Few Teams Used Their Big Buys Well'''
		+
		+	If Tymal Mills' IPL performance is measured by his bid price, then each of the five wickets he claimed for Royal Challengers Bangalore came with a mindboggling tag of Rs 2.40 crore! The England pacer, who at Rs 12 crore was the second costliest player at IPL-10, did not do anything extraordinary in the five appearances he made for his franchise.
		+
		+	A T20 specialist, Mills was among the 21 players who hit pay dirt after being picked for a crore or more at the auction held in February . While Ben Stokes (Rising Pune Supergiant) was the costliest at Rs 14.5 crore, others like M Ashwin (Delhi Daredevils), Dan Christian (Rising Pune Supergiant) and Pawan Negi (RCB) earned Rs 1 crore each at the auction.While a few justified their price tags, some disappointed, while the others returned home after being benched through the season.
		+
		+	Stokes and Christian were Pune's main picks at the auction and wise ones at that.Stokes was at the heart of Pune's campaign in the 12 matches he played before joining the England team. Electric and quick as a fielder, the all-rounder claimed 12 wickets at an average of 26.33 and scored 316 runs including an unbeaten century (103 n.o.). His presence in the Pune dressing room turned out to be invaluable for the team. Likewise, Christian with 11 wickets from 13 matches didn't do badly either.
		+
		+	Apart from Pune, the teams for whom investment in crorepati players turned out to be profitable were Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
		+
		+	The pace trio of Trent Boult (Rs 5cr), Chris Woakes (Rs 4.2cr) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (Rs 3.5cr) was Kolkata's top buys of the season.While Boult wasn't in peak form, Woakes turned out to be the bowling trump card for Kolkata, picking up 17 wickets in 13 matches.Coulter-Nile too fared well with 15 wickets from eight outings including his three-for in the Eliminator against Hyderabad.
		+
		+	Afghan spinner Rashid Khan and pacer M Siraj didn't disappoint Hyderabad. A Rs 2-crore investment in veteran Aussie pacer Mitchell Johnson proved to be a game-changer for Mumbai, who were also rewarded for their faith in Karn Sharma (Rs 3.2cr), who saw them through to the final with his tidy bowling. In contrast, Karnataka's spin bowler K Gowtham, who created a buzz after attracting a Rs 2-crore bid, didn't get to play even a game for Mumbai.
		+
		+	=2018=
		+	==The auction==
		+	'''See graphics''':
		+
		+	''Some facts about the teams and players in IPL, January 2018 (Day 1 and day 2)''
		+
		+	''Top buys for IPL, January 2018 (Day 1 and day 2)''
		+
		+	[[File: Some facts about the teams and players in IPL, January 2018.jpg|Some facts about the teams and players in IPL, January 2018 (Day 1 and day 2) <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F29&entity=Ar02302&sk=6AF1DD5C&mode=text  Manuja Veerappa, January 2018:  ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: Top buys for IPL, January 2018 (both days).jpg|Top buys for IPL, January 2018 (Day 1 and day 2) <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F29&entity=Ar02302&sk=6AF1DD5C&mode=text  Manuja Veerappa, January 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	===The main deals/ 1===
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F28&entity=Ar02719&sk=050F05AF&mode=text Manuja Veerappa, Stokes leads IPL crorepati club,  January 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: Big names that went unsold, 2018.jpg|Big names that went unsold, 2018 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F28&entity=Ar02719&sk=050F05AF&mode=text Manuja Veerappa, Stokes leads IPL crorepati club,  January 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphic''':
		+
		+	''Big names that went unsold, 2018''
		+
		+
		+	'''Englishman Rakes In Rs 12.5 Crore; Jackpot For Rahul & Pandey Too'''
		+
		+	Many Indian Premier League dreams took flight and a few were crushed as a virtual conveyor belt of 110 established stars and littleknown players went under the hammer on Saturday, the opening day of the two-day IPL mega auction.
		+
		+	Like last year, England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who went for Rs. 14.5 crore in 2017, hit paydirt as Rajasthan Royals snapped him up for a whopping Rs 12.5 crore, making him the most expensive buy of the day and most likely of the auction. A pending case against him made no difference to the Englishman’s market value as Chennai Super Kings made the first charge followed by Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders before Rajasthan Royals jumped into the bidding war at the Rs 12-crore mark.
		+
		+	Asked about the availability of Stokes, Ranjit Barthakur, chairman and CEO of Royals, said, “As far as we are concerned, the ECB has cleared him for auction; he’s legally available, therefore we’ve bid for him. He’s a very important part. We’re trying to build the team and an all-rounder is absolutely important.”
		+
		+	Stokes was followed by KL Rahul and Manish Pandey. The batting talents from Karnataka commanded a mind-boggling Rs 11 crore each which Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad paid with glee. Mitchell Starc (KKR, Rs 9.40cr), Rashid Khan (SRH; Rs 9cr) and R Ashwin (KXIP; Rs. 7.60cr) were the top bowlers to earn the mega bucks.
		+
		+	'''UNCAPPED PLAYERS CALL THE SHOTS'''
		+
		+	As many as 40 uncapped cricketers from India and abroad were paraded. Of them, 19 hit the jackpot, with the price soaring beyond the Rs 1-crore mark. Krunal Pandya (base price Rs 40 lakh) was the biggest gainer among them, taking home a cool Rs 8.8 cr from his home team Mumbai Indians who exercised the RTM privilege even as teams like Bangalore, Royals and Hyderabad engaged in a bidding war for the all-rounder. Even as RCB sealed the deal, Mumbai owners pulled out the RTM card.
		+
		+	Jofra Archer, the 22-year-old medium-pacer from West Indies was the other big gainer on the day as Royals snapped him up for Rs 7.20 crore. Another overseas uncapped crorepati was D’Arcy Short, the 27-year-old lefthanded batsman-spinner from Australia also going to Royals. Both players have had a golden run at the ongoing Australian Big Bash League.
		+
		+	U-19 stars Kamlesh Nagarkoti (Rs 3.2 crore), Shubman Gill (Rs. 1.8 cr), Prithvi Shaw (Rs. 1.2 cr) too joined the elite crorepati club.
		+
		+	'''SOME STARS GET COLD SHOULDER'''
		+
		+	Franchises went mostly on current form and youth rather than reputation and experience. The price tags of some of the old warhorses is a case in point. Yuvraj Singh, who was the highest-paid player of 2014 and 2015, went for his base price of Rs 2 cr to Kings XI Punjab, while Chennai, who went for tried and tested players, were the sole bidders for Harbhajan Singh (Rs 2 cr). The franchises were not overenthusiastic when Gautam Gambhir’s name was called out and Delhi Daredevils welcomed him back for Rs 2.80 crore (base price Rs 2 crore).
		+
		+	'''GAYLE GOES UNSOLD'''
		+
		+	Meanwhile, explosive West Indies batsman Chris Gayle found no takers. Even RCB didn’t look interested.
		+
		+	====Highlights====
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F28&entity=Ar00519&sk=01001983&mode=text  January 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: 10 things to know about IPL auction, 2018.jpg|10 things to know about IPL auction, 2018 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F28&entity=Ar00519&sk=01001983&mode=text  January 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphic''':
		+
		+	''10 things to know about IPL auction, 2018''
		+
		+	====Players sold/ 1====
		+	[[File: Players sold, day 1, (IPL auction, 2018).jpg|Players sold, day 1, (IPL auction, 2018) <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F28&entity=Ar02720&sk=7A6FAF60&mode=text January 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphic''':
		+
		+	''Players sold, day 1, (IPL auction, 2018)''
		+
		+	===The main deals/ 2===
		+	[[File: IPL auction (day 2, 2018), some brief facts.jpg|IPL auction (day 2, 2018), some brief facts <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F29&entity=Ar00130&sk=0DAE681B&mode=text  January 29, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphic''':
		+
		+	''IPL auction (day 2, 2018), some brief facts''
		+
		+	===Most expensive uncapped players===
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F28&entity=Ar02723&sk=B79E634B&mode=text  January 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	'''MOST EXPENSIVE UNCAPPED PLAYERS'''
		+
		+	Krunal Pandya (Rs 8.8 cr, MI – RTM; Base price Rs 40 lakh), Jofra Archer (Rs 7.2 cr, RR; BP Rs 40 lakh), Ishan Kishan (Rs 6.2 cr, MI; BP: Rs 40 lakh), D’Arcy Short (Rs 4 cr, RR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Deepak Hooda (Rs 3.6 cr, SRH – RTM; BP: Rs 40 lakh), Siddharth Kaul (Rs 3.8 cr, SRH; BP: Rs 30 lakh), Nitish Rana (Rs 3.4 cr, KKR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Rahul Tripathi (Rs 3.4 cr, RR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (Rs 3.2 cr, KKR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Vijay Shankar (Rs 3.2 cr, DD; BP: Rs 40 lakh), Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 3.2 cr, MI; BP: Rs 30 lakh), Ankit Rajpoot (Rs 3 cr, KXIP; BP:Rs 30 lakh), Navdeep Saini (Rs 3 cr, RCB; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Khaleel Ahmed (Rs 3 cr, SRH; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Rahul Tewatia (Rs 3 cr, DD; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Shubman Gill (Rs 1.8 cr, KKR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Prithvi Shaw (Rs 1.2 cr, DD; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Manan Vohra (Rs 1.1 cr, RCB; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Mayank Agarwal (Rs 1 cr, KXIP; BP: Rs 20 lakh).
		+
		+	===Lesser known players selected in 2018===
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F01%2F29&entity=Ar02302&sk=6AF1DD5C&mode=text  Manuja Veerappa, RR Break Bank For Pacer, Shell Out ₹11.5Cr To Make Him Costliest Indian, January 29, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	Auction in IPL- team, players bought and amount spent
		+
		+
		+	About an hour-and-a-half into the second day of the IPL auction, the money left with the franchises started to decrease with capped pacers commanding a good price. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals — the teams with the biggest purse — had one pacer on their ‘mustbuy’ list and the latter had the last laugh.
		+
		+	It turned out to be a blockbuster Sunday for left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat as he went for a mind boggling ₹ 11.5 crore, making him the second most expensive player of this season behind IPL teammate Ben Stokes (₹12.5 crore).
		+
		+	Starting off at a base price of ₹ 1.5 crore, it was common knowledge that the 26-yearold will be among the hot picks given his T20 credentials which includes 24 wickets last season, Chennai Super Kings were the first to bid for him and Kings XI Punjab jumped in immediately. Rajasthan Royals, who were mute spectators until the bid crossed the ₹11-crore mark, upped the ante and made the winning bid for the Saurashtra bowler, who last season went to Rising Pune Supergiants for his base price of ₹30 lakh.
		+	As the auction drew to a close, 169 of the 581 players found a team with a total of ₹431.7 crore spent on them. This included 56 overseas players from across nine countries.
		+	Earlier, Kings XI Punjab fought it out with Chennai for Australian pacer Andrew Tye before bagging him for ₹7.2 crore. After an intense paddle war between Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, Karnataka spinner and a handy bat K Gowtham went to Royals for an impressive ₹6.2 crore.
		+
		+	AFGHANS HIT JACKPOT
		+
		+	Over the weekend, four players from Afghanistan generated a lot of buzz. After Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi returned to Sunrisers Hyderabad, 16-year-old Mujeeb Zadran and Zahir Khan went to Punjab and Rajasthan Royals respectively.
		+
		+	Mujeeb, who hails from Khost, a town 250km from Kabul, shot into the limelight last year when he picked up four wickets on debut against Ireland. The offie, often referred to as a mystery spinner, started with a base price of ₹50 lakh and Punjab and Delhi Daredevils immediately engaged in intense bidding. Delhi dropped out at ₹3.80 crore and Punjab sealed the deal at ₹4 crore. Mujeeb’s compatriot Zahir, went for ₹ 60 lakh from a base price of ₹20 lakh.
		+
		+	INVESTMENT IN FUTURE
		+
		+	With an eye on the future, the franchisees picked a total of seven India U-19 players, of whom four were bought on the second day. Speed gun Shivam Mavi went for ₹ 3 crore to Kolkata Knight Riders while big hitters Abhishek Sharma and Manjot Kalra were both snapped up by Delhi Daredevils for ₹55 lakh and ₹20 lakh respectively. Left-arm spinner Anukul Roy headed to the Mumbai Indians camp for ₹20 lakh.
		+
		+	A FIRST FOR NEPAL CRICKET
		+
		+	Nepal’s spin bowler Sandeep Lamichhane became the first player from Nepal to bag an IPL contract when Delhi got him on board for ₹20 lakh. The 17-year-old is highly rated by former Australian skipper Michael Clarke, who mentored him during a league in Hong Kong.
		+
		+	GAYLE GETS THIRD TIME LUCKY
		+
		+	West Indies big-hitter Chris Gayle, a marquee player who went unsold on the opening day and in the second session of the second day, emerged lucky the third time when Punjab successfully bid for him at his ₹ 2-crore base price. Likewise, Murali Vijay too was brought in the first round of the accelerated process by Chennai Super Kings at his base price (₹ 2 crore). Another current international Parthiv Patel (₹ 1.70 cr) headed to Royal Challengers Bangalore as did Mitchell Johnson (₹ 2 crore, KKR) and Tim Southee (₹1crore, RCB). Among the big names who failed to attract any bidders were Dale Steyn, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptill, Joe Root, Nathan Lyon and Tymal Mills, who was the second most expensive player last season at ₹ 12 crore.
		+
		+	===The youngest, the oldest, average age===
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl/top-stories/ipl-2018-are-veterans-still-worth-the-gamble/articleshow/63637384.cms  Partha Bhaduri, April 6, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: Youngest and oldest players in each IPL team, April 2018.jpg|Youngest and oldest players in each IPL team, April 2018 <br/> From: [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl/top-stories/ipl-2018-are-veterans-still-worth-the-gamble/articleshow/63637384.cms  Partha Bhaduri, April 6, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: Average age of players in IPL 2018.jpg|Average age of players in IPL 2018 <br/> From: [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl/top-stories/ipl-2018-are-veterans-still-worth-the-gamble/articleshow/63637384.cms  Partha Bhaduri, April 6, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+
		+	'''HIGHLIGHTS'''
		+
		+	IPL has also welcomed those simply hoping to revive sagging mid-career fortunes with a booster shot of cricketing glory
		+
		+	In 2016, the average age of the top-10 was 29.10. Three players were above 30, and one was below 25
		+
		+	Last season the average age of the top-10 grew again to 30.30, with seven batsmen above 30 in the list
		+
		+	Worried about age spots? An IPL treatment may be just what you need. We’re not talking about the intense pulsed light cosmetic procedure so common in the beauty industry, but the glowing cricketing equivalent, the Indian Premier League. Since its inception in the nascent days of T20 strategizing, the league has been a haven for those seeking to smoothen the wrinkles of a post-retirement life. IPL has also welcomed those simply hoping to revive sagging mid-career fortunes with a booster shot of cricketing glory. Even at the auctions, reputation has tended to precede both skills and promise in the expense stakes.
		+
		+	This time around, the trend seems to have been bucked at the auctions, either because of a large number of available cricketers in the twilight of their careers or a more deliberate move from franchises to bank on fresh legs.
		+
		+	Some like CSK, though, have remained firmly in favour of veterans. Their logic is a proven one: the T20 game is a short one, so those high on skill and experience but low on youthful energy won’t be caught out in a hurry. They can, instead, shave off the years when it comes to performance.
		+
		+	CSK seem to have done their homework on the batting front. For the past three IPL seasons, the average age of the top 10 batting performers has been rising slowly and steadily. In 2015, the average age of the top-10 was 28.50, with Chris Gayle being the oldest at 35 (at that time) and Ajinkya Rahane being the youngest then at 26, which means all 10 batsmen were above 25. Four were above 30.
		+
		+	In 2016, the average age of the top-10 grew to 29.10, although only three were above 30, and one was below 25 (Quinton de Kock, 23 at the time). This was because of a large concentration of cricketers in the 27-34 age group, when a batsmen is in his prime.
		+
		+	Last season the average age of the top-10 grew again to 30.30, with seven batsmen above 30 in the list. The oldest was Gautam Gambhir at 35, the youngest Rahul Tripathi at 26. This doesn’t mean, though, that seniority is a guarantee of success and the other franchises have erred in banking on youth. A similar peek into the top-10 bowlers reveals the average age has been shrinking, from 28.80 in 2015 to 26.60 in 2017.
		+
		+	Interestingly, the average age of the worst batting performers too has been rising steadily. The top-10 worst batting performers (taking into consideration batting positions No. 1 to 6 only, minimum 11 innings) had an average age of 30.4 last season, up from 28.7 in 2016. That means banking on senior players is often a gamble. So what’s an IPL team management to do when picking a side?
		+
		+	For one, picking younger bowlers is the way to go. The days of the Nehras, Hoggs and Tambes may be over. On the batting front, there is an important difference in the ‘best and ‘worst’ sets: the ‘worst of ’ batting lists tend to be thinner on performers of pedigree, meaning who have also excelled with the bat at international level in ODI or Test cricket over time.
		+
		+	The highest, fittest achievers are more adept at stretching peak performance well into their 30s. So if you’re picking seniors, picking the ones with the best international records may be the way to go.
		+
		+	This time at the auction, many franchises displayed a tendency to pick younger domestic performers, the likes of Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Rahul Tripathi and Ishan Kishan, to name just three. That means they have spent less on some proven but ageing players. This may have saved owners money, but until it translates into winning performances, their furrowed brows may not smoothen soon.
		+
		+	==IPL business model==
		+
		+	IPL runs on a Central and Local pool of sponsorships for revenues. Broadcasters, tournament sponsors, title rights holders and bid monies form the central pool. Gate money, in-stadia advertising, franchise sponsors and merchandising make for the Local Pool. The Central Pool revenue is shared by all eight franchises on a percentage basis. The franchise has to fend for itself where Local Pool is concerned.
		+
		+	==Future==
		+
		+	The players from Royals and CSK franchise cannot be bought by or absorbed in any other franchise. Each team has a limit of 26 players and a fixed purse. For CSK and RR players to participate in IPL, the BCCI will have to float a tender for two fresh teams. There is no restriction if CSK and RR want to sell their franchises ahead of the coming season, after BCCI clearance. A full-fledged auction of all players is now scheduled after the 2016 edition of IPL.Both Royals and CSK have 26 players each and so do most other franchises. CSK has one-year contracts with most of its cricketers, who can go back into the auction pool but other franchises will have to off-load players to be able to buy them. With Kochi Tuskers winning their arbitration with BCCI, they're free to participate in IPL. Some players can be included in the Kochi franchise if they agree to play the tournament. However, one new franchise will still have to be auctioned. If Kochi Tuskers are unwilling to play, BCCI will have to auction two new franchises. IPL broadcast rights are up for a resale in 2017.
		+
		+	==The finals (graphic)==
		+	[[File: The results of the IPL finals, 2018- CSK beat SRH; CSK’s performance in the finals, 2008-2018.jpg|The results of the IPL finals, 2018- CSK beat SRH; CSK’s performance in the finals, 2008-2018 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F05%2F28&entity=Ar00315&sk=5969B9ED&mode=text  May 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphic''':
		+
		+	''The results of the IPL finals, 2018: CSK beat SRH <br/> CSK’s performance in the finals, 2008-2018''
		+
		+	==The best batsmen, bowlers IPL 2018==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F05%2F28&entity=Ar01902&sk=0914FDE1&mode=text  Gaurav Gupta, Veteran Aussie Pulverises SRH With Blazing Century As Chennai Canter To Title, May 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: The best batsmen, bowlers of IPL 2018.jpg|The best batsmen, bowlers of IPL 2018 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F05%2F28&entity=Ar01902&sk=0914FDE1&mode=text  Gaurav Gupta, Veteran Aussie Pulverises SRH With Blazing Century As Chennai Canter To Title, May 28, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	“Teams win games, but finals are won by individuals,” MS Dhoni had quipped on the eve of the IPL final between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. His words proved prophetic as Shane Watson smashed the highest-ever score in an IPL final to seal the 2018 crown for CSK.
		+
		+	Watson pulverized the Sunrisers bowlers during his breathtaking, unbeaten 117 (57b, 11x4, 8x6) to turn the summit clash into a ridiculously one-sided affair at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday night.
		+
		+	The Aussie’s blazing century, his second of the tournament, completed a fairytale return to the IPL for CSK, who clinched their third title after being banned for two years.
		+
		+	When he took 10 balls to get off the mark, little did one realize that Wason would explode in such a fashion that CSK would gallop home with as many as nine balls and eight wickets still intact. Chasing 179, the 37-year-old chose to be cautious at the start as he played out Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first over for a maiden.
		+
		+	After taking his time to get his eye in, Watson tore into one of the best attacks of the tournament with his devastating blade.
		+
		+	Sandep Sharma won’t forget the mauling that he received in the 13th over from Watson in a hurry. Ball after ball, the young medium-pacer ran in, trying the slower, knuckle delivery outside off stump, which normally ties up a batsman in knots in T20 cricket. However, on Sunday night, those deliveries landed deep into the stands behind long on, thrice in succession.
		+
		+	Between this six-hitting spree, Watson carted the youngster, who was consoled by his captain Kane Williamson, for two fours too, in an over which cost the Sunrisers 27 runs, and reduced the remaining part of the chase to a canter. To add to the Sunrisers’ woes, pacer Siddharth Kaul endured a horrible night as well, going for 43 for three overs, even as the experienced Watson negated the Rashid threat too.
		+
		+	Watson found an able ally in Suresh Raina (32), as the pair added 117 in 57 balls for the second wicket, after Faf du Plessis was dismissed early.
		+
		+	Earlier, Sunrisers picked up pace in the second half of their innings to post a competitive 178 for six.
		+
		+	Put in by Dhoni, the Sunrisers were initially pegged back by good spells from seamers Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar. Ngidi even bowled a maiden in his first spell.
		+
		+	SRH suffered an initial setback when ‘keeper-bat Shreevats Goswami, who replaced an injured Wriddhiman Saha, was run out by Karn Sharma while going for a needless second run.
		+
		+	That blow meant skipper Kane Williamson was in the middle by the second over. Together with Shikhar Dhawan (26, 25b, 2x4, 1x6), Williamson (47, 36b, 5x4, 2x6) stablized the innings. After Dhawan was castled by Ravindra Jadeja, middle-order batsmen Shakib Al Hasan (23, Yusuf Pathan (45 not out) and Carlos Brathwaite (21) all chipped in as SRH collected 105 from the last 10 overs.
		+
		+	The trio’s effort helped SRH get over the setback of losing Williamson, who was stumped while giving the charge to a Karn delivery which spun away far outside the off stump. Though he couldn’t complete what would’ve been his ninth fifty in the 2018 IPL, Williamson joined a rare club of batsmen who’ve completed 700 runs in a season.
		+
		+	==The best performers/ first 30 games ==
		+	[[File: IPL 11 (2018)- The best performers of the first 30 games.jpg|IPL 11 (2018)- The best performers of the first 30 games <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F05%2F02&entity=Ar00524&sk=E85E35EE&mode=text  Dhananjay Mahapatra, SC’s switch hit: Won’t force one-state, one-vote on BCCI, May 2, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphic''':
		+
		+	''IPL 11 (2018)- The best performers of the first 30 games''
		+
		+	==November: Extension, retention and dropping of players==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F11%2F16&entity=Ar02501&sk=DACF3839&mode=text  Saibal Bose, Unadkat dropped over ‘high auction-price pressure’, November 16, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: Nov 2018- The extension, retention and dropping of players by IPL franchises.jpg|November 2018- The extension, retention and dropping of players by IPL franchises <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F11%2F16&entity=Ar02501&sk=DACF3839&mode=text  Saibal Bose, Unadkat dropped over ‘high auction-price pressure’, November 16, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	Rajasthan Royals continue to surprise. After having snapped up medium-pacer Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 11.3 crore, the highest for an Indian in the IPL auctions held early this year, the Jaipur-based franchise dropped another bombshell by releasing him. The reason for the decision was apparently the player’s high auction price.
		+
		+	“When reviewing Jaydev’s contributions to the team, we felt there was too much pressure on him to deliver vis-a-vis his auction price and hence we thought it would be better to release him,” Royals head of cricket Zubin Bharucha told TOI.
		+
		+	Unadkat had failed to deliver to expectations in the last edition of the IPL, having taken just 11 wickets in 15 matches, with the economy rate was a shade below 10. Royals owner Manoj Badale had told TOI after the auctions that the idea was to plan their strategy around an Indian strike bowler and Unadkat fitted the bill.
		+
		+	“We want to go into the next auction with a free mind,” a Royals official told TOI. Jaipur is scheduled to host the auctions in the third week of December. Royals also released another much talked-about player, South Africa’s big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen. Australian batsman D’Arcy Short and veteran medium-pacer Ben Laughlin were also released.
		+
		+	'''DAREDEVILS RELEASE GAMBHIR'''
		+
		+	Delhi Daredevils expectedly released Gautam Gambhir, who stepped down as the team’s in the middle of the 2018 season after a poor run of form. Apart from Gambhir, Delhi also released Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Liam Plunkett, Mohammed Shami, Sayan Ghosh, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Naman Ojha. The retained Delhi players include captain Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Amit Mishra and teen sensation Prithvi Shaw.
		+
		+
		+	'''SUNRISERS RETAIN WARNER, LET GO OF BRATHWAITE, SAHA'''
		+
		+	Sunrisers Hyderabad retained David Warner — who missed the 2018 season following the ball-tampering scandal — while releasing nine players, including West Indies T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite.
		+
		+	SRH retained 17 players. England’s Alex Hales and all-rounder Chris Jordan too were dumped by franchise. Among Indians, the notable player to be released was Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. Earlier, Sunrisers had traded opener Shikhar Dhawan for Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nazeem and Vijay Shankar with Daredevils.
		+
		+
		+	'''KINGS RELEASE AXAR, YUVI, FINCH'''
		+
		+	India’s 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh, left-arm spinner Axar Patel and Australia’s current limitedovers skipper Aaron Finch were among 11 players released by Kings XI Punjab. A pale shadow of his once explosive self, the 36-year-old Yuvraj managed just 65 runs at an abysmal average of 10.83 in eight games. With 134 runs in 10 games@16.75, the usually consistent Finch too didn’t find runs. Others who have been released are Ben Dwarshuis, former India pacers Mohit Sharma and Barinder Sran, batsman Manoj Tiwary, Kashmir’s Manzoor Dar, Akshdeep Nath and Mayank Dagar. Kings XI finished seventh out of eight teams last year.
		+
		+
		+	'''MUMBAI DROP CUMMINS, MUSTAFIZUR AND DUMINY'''
		+
		+	The Mumbai Indians on Thursday released South African batsman Jean-Paul Duminy, seamers Pat Cummins (Australia) and Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh) and Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya, while retaining 18 players. Cummins was bought by MI for Rs 5.4 crore, but was ruled out before the start of the last IPL due to injury. There were reports that Cricket Australia (CA) pulled him out due to fear of a burnout or injury during the tournament.
		+
		+	Mustafizur Rahman was purchased for Rs 2.2 crore, but played only seven matches last season, taking as many wickets. The left-arm paceman was with Sunrisers Hyderabad previously. Duminy was bought for Rs 1 crore, but played just six matches, in which he managed only 36 runs. MI have also released six domestic players — Saurabh Tiwary, Pradeep Sangwan, Sharad Lumba, Tajinder Singh Dhillon, UP pacer Mohsin Khan and Kerala’s MD Nidheesh.
		+
		+	The Mumbai franchise’s list of 10 released players includes one capped, five uncapped and four international players.
		+
		+	=2019=
		+	==The main deals at the auction==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F12%2F19&entity=Ar03000&sk=7F3F2465&mode=text  Saibal Bose, December 19, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File:  Indian Premier League, 2019- The main deals at the auction.jpg| Indian Premier League, 2019- The main deals at the auction <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F12%2F19&entity=Ar03000&sk=7F3F2465&mode=text  Saibal Bose, December 19, 2018: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+
		+	''RR Keep Medium-Pacer At Lower Price, Kings XI Add Mystery To Their Attack''
		+
		+	Rajasthan Royals continue to surprise. After releasing Jaydev Unadkat for being high priced, they bought him right back for Rs 8.40 crores, making him the joint costliest player at Tuesday’s auctions. Given that they had snapped up the left-arm medium-pacer for Rs 11.5 crores in February, Unadkat might be feeling robbed of Rs 3.1 crores.
		+
		+	There would be no mixed feelings for Varun Chakravarthy, the mystery spinner from Tamil Nadu, who matched Unadkat in money splurged on him. He hit the jackpot with Kings XI Punjab pocketing the 27-year old, who can bowl both leg-spin and offspin. It is said about Chakravarthy that he gets through his four overs before the rivals can unravel him. Staring at a base price of Rs 20 lakh, Chakravarthy went for 42 times that amount.
		+
		+	England’s Sam Curran was called in rather late, but some of the franchises seemed to have held back their purse for him. The all-rounder, whose reputation has soared since his performance against India, caused a bidding war among Kings Xi Punjab, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Punjab added him to their roster for Rs 7.20 crore, making him the costliest overseas player on Tuesday.
		+
		+	Even though bowlers were mainly in focus, South African batsman Colin Ingram was laughing his way to the bank with Delhi Capitals buying him for Rs 6.4 crore.
		+
		+	Mumbai youngster Shivam Dube quite expectedly generated interest after smashing five sixes in one over recently. Royal Challengers Bangalore added him to the kitty for Rs 5 crore, the same price that Mohit Sharma (CSK), Axar Patel (DC) and Carlos Braithwaite earned. The Bengaluru side’s management, in fact, spoke of Dube’s sixes while justifying his high price.
		+
		+	Kings XI threw up another stunner in outbidding Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians for 18-year-old wicketkeeper batsman Prabhsimran Singh (Rs 4.80 crore).
		+
		+	Among the players currently playing for Team India, Mohammad Shami was the top pick at Rs 4.80 crore. Kings XI Punjab, on a rebuilding spree, will most likely use him as their strike bowler.
		+
		+	Golden oldies like Brendon McCullum got the royal ignore while Yuvraj Singh had to be brought back, Mumbai Indians buying him at base price of Rs 1 crore. In fact, all the highestrated spinners were left unsold. Clearly, the franchises were looking for surprise elements like Chakravarthy. “He is unknown and that is an advantage,” KXIP CEO Satish Menon explained. “It’s also the World Cup year and we don’t know whom we might lose. Varun is more of a backup to Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Zadran.”
		+
		+	==Teams in the final==
		+	[[File: CSK vs. MI reached the final of IPL, 2019.jpg|CSK vs. MI reached the final of IPL, 2019 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F05%2F11&entity=Ar00305&sk=B5FA5609&mode=image  May 11, 2019: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	See graphic, 'CSK vs. MI reached the final of IPL, 2019'
		+
		+	== MI win the title==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F05%2F13&entity=Ar02115&sk=DA7AC4DA&mode=text  JAC Gladson, May 13, 2019: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: The IPL final, 2019- Scoreboard .jpg|The IPL final, 2019- Scoreboard  <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F05%2F13&entity=Ar02115&sk=DA7AC4DA&mode=text  JAC Gladson, May 13, 2019: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: MI beat CSK in the final of IPL, 2019.jpg| MI beat CSK in the final of IPL, 2019 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F05%2F13&entity=Ar00305&sk=AF312A30&mode=image  May 13, 2019: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	'''See graphics''':
		+
		+	'' The IPL final, 2019- Scoreboard ''
		+
		+	'' MI beat CSK in the final of IPL, 2019 ''
		+
		+	A proven track record does no good if you’re not good on the day. Having made his point beautifully on the eve of the IPL 2019 final against Chennai Super Kings, Rohit Sharma and Co. were expected to not just merely turn up, but put in an impressive performance. And by converting their words into deeds, Mumbai Indians not only won their fourth title but their one-run win over Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday was the second such finish – they had defeated Pune Warriors by the same margin in 2017.
		+
		+	In Chennai, Mumbai had an opposition that’s weathered many a storm, but in not refusing to give up or give in, Mumbai are now in a league of their own with the skipper making it a penta – four titles with Mumbai and one with Deccan Chargers.
		+
		+	As is their wont, Chennai turned the contest into a gripping finale and Rahul Chahar nearly cost them the game when he reprieved Shane Watson with the opener going great guns on 55. The Aussie smashed two overs for 20 runs each off Lasith Malinga (16th) and Krunal Pandya (18th) to negate all the good work Rahul Chahar had done by restricting Chennai to 72 for two at the halfway stage — they eventually had to rest content with 148/7.
		+
		+	When Watson finally fell with two deliveries to go for 80 (59b, 8x4, 6x4), Chennai still needed four. His 51-run partnership with Dwayne Bravo was not enough to see CSK cross the line with Lasith Malinga sounding the death knell by denying two runs off the last ball.
		+
		+	The start was just as exciting as the finish after the Mumbai skipper had no hesitation to bat first. But if Mumbai’s 149 for eight was a start-stop affair, Chennai had not reckoned with Mumbai’s bowling arsenal that slowly tilted the scales in their favour by choking runs in the middle.
		+
		+	Faf du Plessis was the initial aggressor, while Shane Watson took his time, but with Suresh Raina running out of luck, Ambati Rayudu coming a cropper and skipper MS Dhoni run-out going for a second on an overthrow, Mumbai cleverly wrested the initiative through Chahar’s excellent returns of one for 14, which included 13 dot balls and just one boundary.
		+
		+	[[Category:Cinema-TV-Pop|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:Cricket|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:India|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Law,Constitution,Judiciary|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+
		+	=2020=
		+	==Mumbai Indians win fifth title==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F11%2F11&entity=Ar02521&sk=AE39F817&mode=text  Gaurav Gupta, November 11, 2020: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: Scoreboard, Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals, IPL- 2020.jpg|Scoreboard, Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals, IPL- 2020 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F11%2F11&entity=Ar02521&sk=AE39F817&mode=text  Gaurav Gupta, November 11, 2020: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: Mumbai Indians' five IPL titles, 2013-2020.jpg|Mumbai Indians' five IPL titles, 2013-2020 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F11%2F11&entity=Ar02521&sk=AE39F817&mode=text  Gaurav Gupta, November 11, 2020: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	Is he really injured? If this final was something of a ‘fitness test’ for Rohit Sharma, the star opener passed it with flying colours. Rested from the Indian team’s white-ball leg for the impending tour to Australia due to a rather mysterious hamstring injury which has caused big controversy, the Mumbaikar churned out a captain’s knock, cracking 68 (51b, 5x4, 4x6) to lead the Mumbai Indians to their fifth Indian Premier League title, as they downed the Delhi Capitals by five wickets in a onesided final in Dubai.
		+
		+	Unleashing his trademark front-foot pulls off the fast bowlers and smashing the spinners down the ground with characteristic ease, Rohit seemed intent on making a simple point he made when he returned from his injury to play for MI: ‘I’m fit and fine.’ He perished to a superb diving catch by substitute fielder Lalit Yadav at deep midwicket while trying to hook Anrich Nortje, but the job was done by then.
		+
		+	Towards the end, MI suffered a couple of more hiccups when Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya went out cheaply but Ishan Kishan (33 not out, 19b, 3x4, 1x6) continued his fabulous form to take MI home.
		+
		+	It was title No. 5 for ‘Captain Rohit,’ and his sixth as a player in the IPL. A decade back, MI had, for the only time, lost an IPL final while chasing against CSK, but this time, chasing just 157, they didn’t falter again, managing to defend the title successfully. It’s the first time that MI have won a crown in an even year. In what has been a magnificent campaign for them, MI came up with another dominant display in the final, beating the Capitals for the fourth time this season.
		+
		+	Earlier, skipper Shreyas Iyer (65 not out, 50b, 6x4, 2x6) and Rishabh Pant (56 not out, 38b, 4x4, 2x6) struck form, digging the Capitals out from a deep hole when they had slipped to 22 for three by just the fourth over, but MI still managed to restrict them to 156 for seven.
		+
		+	Showing commendable fightback, Iyer and Pant dug in to add 96 in 69 balls for the fourth wicket to bail their team out of crisis and breathe some life into the summit clash. However, pulling things back brilliantly, MI conceded merely 38 in the final five overs to gain the upper hand.
		+
		+	For the eight time in this IPL, Man of the Match Trent Boult provided a breakthrough in the first over for MI when he had Marcus Stoinis caught behind off the very first ball of the match, the first such instance in an IPL final. Boult struck again when Ajinkya Rahane was caught down the legside for just two in the third over.
		+
		+	The Capitals suffered their biggest blow when talismanic batsman Shikhar Dhawan (15) missed a slog sweep off off-spinner Jayant Yadav to be castled for just 15. It’s not often that you see Dhawan mess up that stroke, but then whatever MI have touched this time has turned into gold.
		+
		+	=2021=
		+	==The entire list==
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl/top-stories/ipl-2021-full-squad-lists-of-all-eight-teams/articleshow/81104041.cms  February 19, 2021: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	'''IPL 2021: Full squad, players list of all eight teams'''
		+
		+	NEW DELHI: Every year, the IPL Player Auction brings with it a lot of excitement and thrill. Franchisees splurge large sums of money to seal a deal, while some players fail to find a bidder.
		+
		+	In the IPL 2021 Player Auction, South African all-rounder Chris Morris made headlines by becoming IPL's most expensive buy of all time. Morris was fetched by Rajasthan Royals for a mammoth Rs. 16.25 crore. Meanwhile Krishnappa Gowtham became the highest uncapped Indian buy of all time. He was bought by Chennai Super Kings for Rs. 9.25 crore.
		+
		+	Here's the full squad list of all eight IPL teams after the squads for the 2021 edition were finalised:
		+
		+	'''DELHI CAPITALS '''
		+
		+	Shreyas Iyer (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddarth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings
		+
		+	'''MUMBAI INDIANS'''
		+
		+	Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare (wk), Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neesham, Yudhvir Charak, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar
		+
		+	'''CHENNAI SUPER KINGS'''
		+
		+	Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, N. Jagadeesan (wk), Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, R. Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Josh Hazlewood, KM Asif, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Harisankar Reddy, K. Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishanth
		+
		+	'''PUNJAB KINGS'''
		+
		+	KL Rahul (c&wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen , Saurabh Kumar
		+
		+	'''KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS'''
		+
		+	Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Tim Seifert (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun CV, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi
		+
		+	'''SUNRISERS HYDERABAD'''
		+
		+	David Warner (c), Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Virat Singh, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman
		+
		+	'''RAJASTHAN ROYALS'''
		+
		+	Sanju Samson (c&wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Manan Vohra, Anuj Rawat, Riyan Parag, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Liam Livingstone, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh
		+
		+	'''ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE '''
		+
		+	Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Philippe (wk), AB de Villiers (wk), Pavan Deshpande, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, Harshal Patel, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian, Suyash Prabhudessai, KS Bharat
		+
		+	[[Category:Cinema-TV-Pop|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:Cricket|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+	[[Category:India|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Law,Constitution,Judiciary|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links|INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
		+	INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)]]
		+
		+	==The auction==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2021%2F02%2F19&entity=Ar02208&sk=3377750F&mode=text  Prasad.RS, February 19, 2021: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: How the IPL franchises stack up, 2021.jpg|How the IPL franchises stack up, 2021 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2021%2F02%2F19&entity=Ar02208&sk=3377750F&mode=text  Prasad.RS, February 19, 2021: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	[[File: IPL auction, history, as in February 2021- Morris becomes most expensive buy in IPL auction history.jpg|IPL auction, history, as in February 2021- Morris becomes most expensive buy in IPL auction history <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2021%2F02%2F19&entity=Ar00317&sk=0F36DDC1&mode=image  February 19, 2021: ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
		+
		+	PAY DAY FOR ALLROUNDERS
		+
		+	RR Break Bank For Morris; Maxwell And Jamieson Fetch Big Money Too
		+
		+	Chennai:
		+
		+	With millions flying around the room, you wouldn’t expect social media to go into overdrive over a Rs 50 lakh or a Rs 20 lakh buy.
		+	But then, while Cheteshwar Pujara is an emotional favourite of many after his heroics in Test cricket, Arjun Tendulkar’s inclusion in the IPL auction list had become a point of debate. So, when Pujara finally got an IPL team — Chennai Super Kings — after seven years, the entire auction room applauded the gesture. “It was a mark of respect for all that Pujara has done for India,” a CSK official told TOI.
		+
		+	Arjun, on the other hand, was the last pick of the day as Zaheer Khan quietly raised the baton to have team mentor Sachin Tendulkar’s son in the set-up after two T20 game for Mumbai.
		+
		+	But before that, a few familiar stories played out. South African allrounder Chris Morris, with 34 runs and 11 wickets from nine games in IPL-13 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, broke all records to become the highest-paid player of the IPL. Rajasthan Royals, looking to rebuild again, paid 16.25 cr, edging out Punjab Kings in a bidding war. Morris’ price tag went past the Rs 16 cr record that was paid by RCB for Yuvraj Singh in 2015.
		+
		+	“We spoke to Morris before the auction and did a medical review to see if he can last the season. He’s in a bubble now in South Africa and about to play the domestic competition. He will play an important role for us in all phases of the game. He can win us the game with the bat as well and the ball,” said Jake Lush McCrum, RR’s COO. But then, that’s the reason RCB paid Rs 10 cr last time for the 33-year-old, but without much reward.
		+
		+	The auction lived up its tag of being allrounders’ ticket to big money. New Zealand’s Kylie Jamieson was bought for Rs 15 crore by RCB. He had scored a couple of 40s against India in Test matches in 2020 and gave Virat Kohli & Co a difficult time with his pace and bounce. Kohli must have taken a note of that and with Kiwi Mike Hesson as the coach, the decision was made to bring him in.
		+
		+	There was another usual suspect — Glenn Maxwell — who went for Rs 14.25 crore without hitting a single six in the last edition of the IPL in UAE for Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab). But on paper, he is one who can contribute handsomely both with the bat and ball, and that’s what led to a bidding war between CSK and RCB. CSK, quite uncharacteristically went till Rs 14 cr mark for the player, but then gave up as Kohli’s franchise looked for “impact players”.
		+
		+	CSK, desperate for spin-bowling allrounders, made two smart buys in the form of Moeen Ali (Rs 7 cr) and K Gowtham (Rs 9.25 cr). Gowtham became the highest-paid Indian at the auction. “Moeen can be an opener option too while Gowtham will fill two vacant spots — Kedar Jadhav and Harbhajan Singh,” a source said.
		+
		+	Another big-money buy was Australian pacer Jhye Richardson by Punjab Kings for Rs 14 cr. They needed a pace-bowling partner for Mohammad Shami after releasing Sheldon Cortrell following a hammering by Rahul Tewatia in one of the games last season. “We knew there would be competition for Richardson but we have the team we required,” team owner Preity Zinta, who also acquired England opener Dawid Mallan for Rs 1.5 cr, said. Punjab also got Tamil Nadu batsman Shahrukh Khan (Rs 5.4 cr), who was extremely impressive in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
		+
		+	The KKR table, which attracted eyeballs due to the presence of SRK’s son Aryan and Juhi Chawla’s daughter Jhanvi, brought Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan back in the team for Rs 3.25 cr along with veteran offie Harbhajan Singh for his base price of Rs 2 cr. MI, on the other hand, had Nathan Coulter Nile and Jimmy Neeham back as their medium-pace back-up for Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. SRH picked up Kedar Jadhav for Rs 2 cr late in the day to add some experience to their middle-order.
		+
		+	Delhi Capitals, too, quietly brought Steve Smith into their line-up for a mere Rs 2.2 crore.
		+
		+	''' ‘Pujara a back-up for Raina’ '''
		+
		+	Pujara’s return to the IPL fold was celebrated by most but there were voices who felt the Test specialist would have been better off playing County instead of sitting on the reserve-bench of CSK for two months. But it’s understood that CSK had a plan in place to get Pujara in and it was not just about respect for the stalwart. “He is a back-up for Suresh Raina, who hasn’t played cricket in a while,” a source said.
		+
		+	The fact that Dhoni wants players who are used to taking pressure is another reason behind Pujara’s inclusion in the squad.
		+
		+	[[Category:Cinema-TV-Pop|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Law,Constitution,Judiciary|I INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links|INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL)
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Revision as of 11:00, 25 June 2021

This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Established in 2008 1.1.1 2008: the beginnings 1.1.2 The results of the finals 1.1.3 Impact on cricket in India 1.1.4 Records 1.2 2008-18/ Captains, stars who dropped themselves from the team 1.3 An overview, 2008-19 1.4 The greatest players, 2008-19 1.5 The most memorable matches, 2008-19 2 Indian Premier League: The economics of 2.1 Advertising revenues 3 Coaches in IPL 3.1 As in Nov 4 Controversies: 2008-16 4.1 Spot fixing case: 2013 4.2 Dhoni on the suspension of Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals 5 The IPL numbers 5.1 IPL broadcast rights 5.2 IPL title rights 5.2.1 2017-22: Vivo pays Rs 2,199 crore 6 Valuation of the IPL 6.1 2014-19 7 IPL jinxed for team owners? 8 YEAR-WISE HISTORY 9 2013-14 10 2016 11 2017 11.1 Players retained and offloaded 11.2 The 2017 auctions 11.2.1 The surprise omissions of Feb 2017 11.2.2 The surprise omissions of Feb 2017/ 2 11.3 2017/ IPL- 10 11.3.1 Did high player salaries result in success? 12 2018 12.1 The auction 12.1.1 The main deals/ 1 12.1.1.1 Highlights 12.1.1.2 Players sold/ 1 12.1.2 The main deals/ 2 12.1.3 Most expensive uncapped players 12.1.4 Lesser known players selected in 2018 12.1.5 The youngest, the oldest, average age 12.2 IPL business model 12.3 Future 12.4 The finals (graphic) 12.5 The best batsmen, bowlers IPL 2018 12.6 The best performers/ first 30 games 12.7 November: Extension, retention and dropping of players 13 2019 13.1 The main deals at the auction 13.2 Teams in the final 13.3 MI win the title 14 2020 14.1 Mumbai Indians win fifth title 15 2021 15.1 The entire list 15.2 The auction

History

Established in 2008

The Times of India, April 8, 2016

Twenty20 cricket became phenomenally popular after India won the inaugural World Twenty20 title in 2007 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The victory not only rejuvenated the Indians fans, who were reeling under the disappointment of the 2007 ODI World Cup, but it also gave way to the conceptualization of the Indian Premier League that has since then not only cashed on the craze but has also changed the way cricket is played in India.

Brain child of the then BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi, the IPL was launched in 2008 with much fanfare as a competitive response to the Indian Cricket League (ICL) that was not recognized by the BCCI. Since then the IPL has not only come out as the clear victor but has given birth to various T20 leagues around the world and is the most-attended cricket league in the world. The ICL, with controversies of non-payment and fixing, folded up in 2009.

Following the same format as that of English Premier League (EPL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), the IPL works on a franchise system that were put for auction, where the highest bidder won the rights to own the team, representing each city.

2008: the beginnings

K ShriniwasRao, Apr 05 2017: The Times of India

A Decade After It Set The Benchmark For T20 Leagues, Is The IPL Still Blazing The Trail When It Comes To Innovation?

Ten years ago, on a pleasant afternoon in 2008, when a five-star hotel in the south of Mumbai played host to an Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction, the first of its kind in any sport across the world, Sotheby's London auction house was yet to make a killing from a fascinating bronze sculpture -a Swiss masterpiece -waiting to go under the hammer. The winning bid for Walking Man I didn't quite proverbially match up to the cheque written (and the noise made) for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the scale of contemporary European art notwithstanding.

Much later, Richard Madley , the competent London-based auctioneer at IPL for a decade now, would admit -a bit in disbelief and a lot in awe -that sport, much defined like art as an expression of human creative skill, had taken a multi-dimensional leap of faith that astonishing afternoon. Cricket, until then a sport that had been looking to readdress itself in ways that could reassure coming generations of its viability, was given a new life by administrators with twisted hearts and professionals with incredible designs.

This was 2008. India hadn't yet woken up to the idea of leagues until then. By that time, NFL ­ the celebrated American football league ­ was already 88 years old and the NBA ­ the premier men's basketball tournament ­ 62. It was pure innovation at play for IPL, working at multiple levels that helped redraft cricketing philosophies in ways that made the world sit up and take note. Never before had an investor in sport become a bigger talking point than the investment itself.

The results of the finals

2008-16: See graphic.

Impact on cricket in India

The Times of India, April 8, 2016

The first IPL auction took place on January 24, 2008 and the total base price for the auction was $400 million. The auction went on to fetch $723.59 million.

The Mumbai franchise (Mumbai Indians) owned by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) was the most expensive franchise - fetching $111.9 million closely followed by Vijay Mallya's United Breweries which paid $111.6 million for the Bangalore franchise (Royal Challengers Bangalore). Media house Deccan Chronicle won the Hyderabad franchise (Deccan Chargers) for $107 million, while India Cements' Chennai franchise (Chennai Super Kings) cost $91 million.

Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla's Red Chillies Entertainment bought the Kolkata franchise (Kolkata Knight Riders) for $75.09, while Preity Zinta and her then beau Ness Wadia bought the Mohali team (Kings XI Punjab) for $76 million. Infrastructure development group GMR bagged the ownership of the Delhi team (Delhi Daredevils) for $84 million and the Emerging Media, consisting of its CEO Fraser Castellino, Manoj Badale and Lachlan Murdoch and other investors won the rights for the Jaipur franchise (Rajasthan Royals) for $67 million.

The maiden edition of IPL had eight teams comprising a minimum of 16 players each. The tournament lasted for 44 days and involved 59 matches. And since then the league has had its share of controversies and seen many ups and down.

Two new leagues - Pune Warriors India (bought by the Sahara group for $370 million) and Kochi Tuskers Kerala (purchased by Rendezvous Sports World for $333.3 million) - were brought in before the fourth season of the league in 2011. But the Kochi Tuskers were soon terminated for breaching the BCCI's terms and conditions.

2009 champions Deccan Chargers were suspended in 2012 and then renamed Sunrisers Hyderabad under new owners Sun TV Network. But the biggest shock came in 2013 when the IPL was rocked by the fixing and betting scandal and many big names got embroiled in the controversy and it resulted in not only a few heads being rolled but entire teams were suspended. After two years of trials and tribulations, two-time champions Chennai Super Kings and the inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals were suspended for two seasons.

Rajasthan Royals players S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested by Delhi police in Mumbai on charges of spot-fixing during IPL 6. Sreesanth and Chavan were subsequently banned for life by the BCCI's disciplinary committee.

Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants replaced Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two seasons. Dhoni and his longtime Chennai Super Kings teammate Suresh Raina were picked to play for opposing teams in the first-ever player draft of the IPL that was held in Mumbai on December 15, 2015.

Rising Pune Supergiants, the Pune franchise bought by Kolkata-based businessman Sanjiv Goenka, expectedly picked Dhoni as the first player for Rs 12.5 crore and Intex Technologies owner Keshav Bansal, who invested in Gujarat Lions, picked Raina as the first choice followed by Ravindra Jadeja - the local Saurashtra boy who has grown up playing in Rajkot.

The two new franchises paid Rs 12.5 crore to the first player they picked at the draft, Rs 9.5 crore to the second, Rs 7.5 crore to the third, Rs 5.5 crore to the fourth and Rs 4 crore to the fifth. The two franchises had a limited purse of Rs 66 crore to form their squads for the season and a minimum spending of Rs 40 crore was mandatory between the draft and the auction in February. Australian all-rounder Shane Watson emerged as the biggest draw going for a whopping Rs 9.50 crore bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore but it was Pawan Negi who turned heads with a mind-boggling deal of Rs 8.50 crore by Delhi Daredevils to be the costliest Indian buy in the 2016 IPL players' auction.

With corporate megabucks, Bollywood glamour and the frequent sound of wood thumping leather, the IPL has revolutionized the sport in the way it was played and cricketainment has been the new word to describe the evolution of a new chapter in history of cricket. The Indian Premier League has proved that cricket will never be the same again.

Records

2008-16, some 2017: See graphic.

2008-18/ Captains, stars who dropped themselves from the team

April 3, 2018: The Times of India

April 26, 2018: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

In 2008, Mumbai Indians had to choose Shaun Pollock as their third captain of the season after stand-in skipper Harbhajan Singh was suspended

In 2012, Ricky Ponting stepped aside handing over the reigns to Rohit Sharma, who lead Mumbai Indian to the title

In 2015, Steve Smith announced at the toss that he has replaced Shane Watson as captain of Rajasthan Royals

VVS DROPS HIMSELF FOR GILLY (2008)

Originally named as the Icon Player for Deccan Chargers before the first season of IPL, VVS Laxman gave up the status in a bid to allow his team spend more at the auctions. However, the genial Hyderabadi dropped himself from the team halfway through the season after the team’s poor run.

It allowed Adam Gilchrist to take over as the captain. ‘Gilly’ led the side in the next two seasons as well, and DC won the title under him in 2009.

DHAWAN MAKES WAY FOR SAMMY (2014)

In 2014, the Sunrisers Hyderabad announced that they’d ‘relieved’ Shikhar Dhawan of the burden of captaincy and appointed West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy as the new captain for the rest of the IPL season, hoping that the move will help Dhawan bat more freely. Sammy was included in the side and straight away thrusted into the captaincy role. Dhawan had managed only 215 runs in his first 10 outings as captain.

SANGA DROPS HIMSELF (2012)

While leading the Deccan Chargers in the 2012 IPL, Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara was enduring an ordinary run. He not only gave up the captaincy mid-stream but even dropped himself from the playing XI, making way for Australian big-hitter Cameron White to accommodate four overseas players in the XI. However, the move did not yield the desired results as Deccan Chargers could never get going in the tournament.

PONTING MAKES WAY FOR ROHIT (2013)

In 2013, Mumbai Indians began on shaky note when they lost three out of their first six matches. Skipper Ricky Ponting wasn’t in the best of form. The batting great decided to step down and handed over the reins to Rohit Sharma against Kolkata Knight Riders. MI eventually went on to clinch the title under Rohit, even as Ponting kept cheering the team from the sidelines.

VIJAY REPLACES MILLER (2016)

Struggling at the bottom of the points table in 2016, Kings XI Punjab made a bold move by removing David Miller, who had struggled with both the bat and leadership, as the team’s captain with Murali Vijay, even as they had 10 league matches remaining.

“David Miller continues to be an integral part of the team and is a very strong player of the squad,” KXIP said in a statement. Till that stage, Kings XI had won just one match out of six. Till that point, Miller had only managed to score 76 runs while Vijay had amassed 143.

An overview, 2008-19

Partha Bhaduri, April 18, 2020: The Times of India

There was a moment inside the sweltering cauldron of the Chinnaswamy Stadium all those years ago, on April 18, 2008 to be precise, when the still-nebulous Indian Premier League (IPL) acquired a wonderfully original and totally preposterous life of its own. Like most epoch-defining moments, it wasn’t exactly part of the script.

It was just two overs into the Royal Challengers Bangalore chase, but the hosts already seemed in disarray at 9/1. They had begun the innings looking bereft of hope, having been numbed into submission by Brendon McCullum’s unexpected and, at that time, unbelievable assault on their bowlers. The young, pacy Ashok Dinda steamed in to bowl for the Kolkata Knight Riders, and promptly got Virat Kohli to chop a short, wide one on to his stumps. The Chinnaswamy exploded.

The dismissal should have been greeted with stunned silence. Instead, up in the aisles, a prancing KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan discovered to his amazement that the whole stadium was dancing along with him, roaring its approval. Dinda was fist pumping at the crowd, which would continue its carnival merriment for the rest of the game.

That night, Bengaluru didn’t seem to care that their own home team, packed to the gills with Test stalwarts, had unravelled before their eyes.

A trend was set. This wasn’t about team loyalties anymore. It wasn’t about fan favourites either, but something totally alien to sporting leagues, a kind of collective joie de vivre that would propel the IPL to unprecedented heights and reshape the game’s dynamics, both within the field and beyond it. In that first season, crowds across the country’s giant stadiums revelled as the sheer audacity of it all hit home. Indian cricket was shedding its garb of tradition in full public glare, demolishing national-team boundaries and embracing an insatiable appetite for change.

This was cricket’s version of hip-hop, a deep cultural revolution, not some transient, silly hit-and-giggle gimmick. The IPL wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan thing but a stable entity which would usher in democratic norms in a hierarchical cricketing order. It would redraw the bounds of the financially possible.

Players would be auctioned off, permanently altering their non-monetary valuations in the eyes of coaches. Cricketing mercenaries would be born. And like most revolutions, the IPL would acquire a dark side.

That first match was a dream launch. McCullum’s extraordinary 73-ball 158, then the highest T20 score, contained 13 sixes and 10 fours, including, at one point, a scoop over fine leg for six off Zaheer Khan. That innings was an early pointer to the format’s fundamental redrawing of balance between bat and ball.

What was remarkable was that this wasn’t just a plonk-your-front-foot-andhit-through-the-line type of pitch. RCB’s batting order, comprising Rahul Dravid, Wasim Jaffer, Kohli and Jacques Kallis, were used to ‘proper’ cricket and ‘proper’ responses to given situations. They lost by 140 runs.

That first IPL evening was also the first time the IPL made conventional batting seem uncool. In fact, the first IPL edition included all the pointers of things to come. Shane Warne used strong backroom support, tactical nous, swagger and positivity to scythe through opponents, laying the marker for modern T20’s constant craving for data analysis. Old warhorses like Adam Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya showed that their withering frames were still suitable for belting boundaries. Since then, the IPL has been a league of veterans as much as youngsters, in spite of heightened fitness levels and fielders hunting in packs while flirting with boundary ropes.

Innovative shots, broadened bats and quick fixes by hapless bowlers, the first IPL had it all. It also had something that wouldn’t be seen again: the presence of Pakistani cricketers. Virender Sehwag became the first to declare that IPL performances should count towards national selection. Brett Lee said, “If we look back in 10 years’ time, this tournament is going to be a massive landmark.”

By 2014, the IPL was ranked sixth in terms of eyeballs among global sporting leagues. By 2015, each IPL edition was contributing around $160 million to the GDP. By 2017, Star India would be buying the broadcast rights for $2.55 billion. By 2018, 1,112 players would register for the auction and the franchises would spend Rs 600 crore to build their teams. Just before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Duff and Phelps calculated that the IPL brand valuation had soared 13.5% to Rs 47,500 cr.

It seemed nothing, not even the 2013 match-fixing scandal which led to the banning of two teams, could make a dent in the IPL’s soaring graph. Nothing, that is, until the coronavirus. While it’s a given that sporting leagues are not immune to global economic shocks, sporting activity has been hit hardest by the social-distancing norms this pandemic necessitates.

How long will it be till we can flock without fear to stadiums like we used to? Will future IPL games be live streamed from empty stadiums, neutering the league of its emotive appeal? What will the IPL look like in 2022, when the sponsorship rights may be up for grabs again?

Worryingly, is the age of the megabuck sporting league over? According to some estimates, the IPL and its peripheral industries could see a hit of Rs 10,000 crore. There has been no pandemic insurance by either broadcaster or board. The revenue model involves selling properties, to broadcasters, sponsors, franchises... what happens when that model is rendered obsolete? What happens when there are no gate receipts, no corporate boxes?

The IPL has always been shaped by significant external events, like India’s 2007 World T20 win which made the concept viable. Now, too, it’s time to look towards other global sporting leagues, and see how they cope. To survive in a post-pandemic world, the IPL must innovate again.

The greatest players, 2008-19

IPL’s Greatest XI, April 18, 2020: The Times of India

IPL 2020 has been postponed indefinitely due to coronavirus. But what is the greatest XI from the 12 seasons played so far? TOI pores over the statistics and rummages through the memories to come up with the team to beat every other team…

Shane Watson (RR, CSK): IPL’s Duracel man. Two-time MVP (2008, 2013). Biggame hunter (MoM, 2018 final). Pips David Warner, 3-time Orange Capper.

M 134, R 3575, SR 139.53, 6s 177, W 92, Ave 29.15, ER 7.93

Chris Gayle (RCB, KXIP): Punisher. Pleasure-provider. Unstoppable sixmachine (326). Nobody comes close.

M 125, R 4484, Ave 41.13, SR 151.02, 6s 326

Virat Kohli (RCB): IPL’s all-time highest scorer (5,412). Master of risk-free, highpressing cricket. Has smashed 191 sixes nonetheless. M 177, R 5412, Ave 37.84, SR 131.61, 6s 190

AB de Villiers (DD, RCB): Virtuoso crowd-pleaser who demonstrates the outer limits of innovation in T20. When he’s in the mood, even a yorker travels beyond the ropes.

M 154, R 4395, Ave 39.95, SR 151.23, 6s 212

MS Dhoni (CSK, RPS): Captain of the team. Ice cool as leader, and at the death. Barring Chacha Chowdhary, nobody calculates a target as precisely as him.

M 190, R 4432, Ave 42.20, SR 137.85, 6s 209, Ct 94, St 38

Andre Russell (DD, KKR): The enforcer. Possesses several gears; partial to the fifth. IPL’s highest strike rate: 186. Hustler with the ball. Two time MVP.

M 64, R 1400, SR 186.42, 6s 120, W 55, Ave 27.96, ER 8.88

Dwayne Bravo (CSK): Master of deception, especially at death. Flies like a bird, prowls like a panther. Can win games with bat too.

M 134, R 1483, SR 128.28, 6s 61, W 147, Ave 24.61, ER 8.39

Sunil Narine (KKR): Inscrutable offbreak bowler. Among the meanest and most consistent. Also has the second highest batting strike rate in IPL history (168). Two-time MVP too.

M 110, W 122, Ave 23.31, ER 6.67

Rashid Khan (SRH): IPL’s stingiest (ER 6.55). Match-winning leg-break bowler. Loves a challenge. Generally wins it.

M 46, W 55, Ave 21.69, ER 6.55

Lasith Malinga (MI): That slinging action. That mop of hair. That sound of stumps crashing. IPL’s highest wicket-taker ever. Key figure in MI .

M 122, W 170, Ave 19.80, ER 7.14

Jasprit Bumrah (MI): New master of unplayable yorkers. Player of the Match in 2019 final. His best is yet to come.

M 77, W 82, Ave 26.60, ER 7.55

12th man: Pollard (MI): All-purpose star

Coach: Stephen Fleming (CSK): With MS Dhoni as captain, he built the IPL’s most consistent team .

The most memorable matches, 2008-19

—Compiled by Hindol Basu, April 18, 2020: The Times of India

RAJASTHAN’S INCREDIBLE RUN

Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals, not the most fancied bunch at the beginning of the tournament, scripted a fairytale win to stretch the bounds of the possible in the very first IPL in 2008. Of course, the tone had been set in the very first game on April 18, with KKR’s Brendon McCullum smashing an incredible ton.

SLAP AND TEARS

That image from 2008 of temperamental fast bowler Sreesanth crying after being slapped by Harbhajan Singh, while his Kings XI Punjab teammate VRV Singh consoled him, will stay etched in our minds. Harbhajan was suspended for the season. Sreesanth confessed later he had been heckling his senior India teammate.

FOREIGN SHORES

The second season coincided with the general elections and the government refused to commit security personnel. Showcasing its financial might, the IPL was moved out of India, to South Africa, by then commissioner Lalit Modi.

THE MONGOOSE BAT

Australia’s Matthew Hayden unveiled his ‘Mongoose Bat’ in 2010, clobbering bowlers with what looked like a cross between a club and a baseball bat. The Mongoose had two distinguishing features: the handle was as long as the blade and the splice, which normal bats have in the blade, was built into the handle to guarantee a clean hitting surface. Needless to say, it was a hit.

GAYLESTORM

‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle upped the ante in Bangalore against Pune Warriors on April 23, 2013, scoring an unbelievable 175 off just 66 balls, the highest T20 individual score. Gayle hit 13 boundaries and an incredible 17 maximums.

THE DARK UNDERBELLY

A spot-fixing scandal rocked the league in 2013 when the Delhi police arrested three Rajasthan Royals cricketers, including Sreesanth. Soon after, Mumbai Police arrested film actor Vindu Dara Singh and CSK’s former team principal Gurunath Meiyappan for alleged betting, cheating and links with bookies. RR team co-owner Raj Kundra too was found to have placed bets on his team. The Supreme Court appointed a committee to probe the affair. Eventually, CSK and RR were banned for two years. The order, which came in 2015, meant the two teams missed the 2016 and 2017 IPL editions.

MUMBAI’S COMEBACK

In 2015, Mumbai Indians lost five out of their first six games, but the team never stopped believing in its abilities. In a dream comeback, they went on to win nine of their remaining 10 matches to lift the title for the second time.

VIRAT, ABD RUN RIOT

The 2016 IPL season will always be known for the amazing batsmanship by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. RCB needed to win four matches in a row to qualify for the playoffs. Kohli and De Villiers recorded a partnership of 229 runs (best in the IPL) against Gujarat Lions to set the ball rolling. Kohli smacked 109 off 55 balls, while De Villiers scored a unbeaten 129 off 52 balls. This was the first time two batsmen scored centuries in an IPL innings.

KOHLI’S FINE FORM

Kohli almost single-handedly guided his team to the title clash in 2016. With 973 runs in 16 games at 81.08, he was the highest scorer. No other batsman has been able to score as many runs in a single season.

‘MANKADING’ CONTROVERSY

In 2019, Ravichandran Ashwin, captaining Kings XI Punjab, ran out Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end without giving him any prior warning. That ‘Mankading’, as the dismissal is known, cleaved the cricketing world in two and sparked off heated debate on the spirit of the game. Though this is a legally permissible dismissal, the issue is yet to be satisfactorily resolved.

‘CAPTAIN COOL’ LOSES HIS COOL

The usually unflappable MS Dhoni lost his composure in a match against RR last year, walking out on to the pitch after just having been dismissed, and lashing out at the umpires over a no-ball confusion. It just wasn’t cricket from one of the game’s great role models.

BLOODIED BUT NOT OUT bb

Shane Watson’s knock for CSK in the 2019 IPL final against Mumbai Indians was one for the ages. He batted through the pain barrier and a bloodied left knee. His 59-ball 80 nearly saw CSK pull off a 150-run chase against MI. Watson needed six stitches after the game.

Indian Premier League: The economics of

Advertising revenues

Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of Indian Premier League (IPL) has brought on board a total of eight sponsors for the sixth edition of the Twenty20 tournament, which would help it rake in Rs 200 crore more over last year, after lowering its ad rates by 10-15%. Three more sponsors are expected to join over the next two weeks.

The presenting sponsors — PepsiCo and Vodafone — have shelled out around Rs 40-60 crore each while the associate sponsors, which include Tata Photon, Karbonn tablets, Godrej, Samsung Mobiles, Panasonic and Usha Appliances, have paid around Rs 25-30 crore each for being seen on the channel during the tournament.

MSM is looking to earn Rs 950 crore as advertising revenue from IPL-6, up 27% from Rs 750 crore it garnered last year, a senior executive from the company told TOI.

This will be the first time that the IPL will have three feeds — the regular one on SET max, while Sony Six will broadcast a Hindi feed along with an HD one.

Some of the other sponsors likely to be signed on soon for the tournament, which starts on April 3, are Cadbury and Havells — both have had a long-term association with the IPL. This year, MSM has two presenting sponsors and is expected to close nine associate sponsors, up from only five which it managed last year. The channel has also struck large deals with Coca-Cola, Parle Agro, Marico, Berger Paints and Airtel, besides others, filling 70% of its inventory.

“Last year, we had increased the ad rates but could not sell the entire inventory. Our strategy to reduce rates has worked very well and we have seen the interest levels go up. Advertisers from all sectors are on board this year, signaling a revival in sentiments,” said Rohit Gupta, president, MSM.

During 2012, a 10-second ad spot during the IPL had a price tag of Rs 4.5-5.5 lakh, making it a highly premium property. However, reduction in rates has made it far more affordable, said media planners who buy TV airtime for advertisers. “If TV ratings had to fall, it had to fall last year. Now they have stabilized. It is definitely value for money at this rate and with lesser risk,” said Ajit Varghese, MD (South Asia), Maxus, which has bought airtime for telecom major Vodafone.

The IPL reached 170 million eyeballs and clocked an average rating of around 3.27 last year, according to TAM Media Research. MSM’s Gupta said he is expecting the reach to further grow this season. “If there is a big product launch or a new ad campaign, this is a large platform which is a must for any brand. It is a property which is targeted at male audiences, so it works well for brands which directly communicate with this audience group,” said Basabdutta Chowdhury, CEO of Platinum Media, a division of media buying group Madison. This year, soft drink giants PepsiCo is the new title sponsor of the IPL, having paid Rs 396 crore for the next five seasons.

Coaches in IPL

As in Nov

Asheem Mukerji, Nov 30, 2019: The Times of India

COACHES IN IPL

Rajasthan Royals I Indian coaches: 1 (Batting coach: Amol Muzumdar); Foreign coaches: 2 (Head coach: Andrew McDonald-Aus, Fast bowling coach: Steffan Jones-Eng)

Kings XI Punjab I Indian coaches: 1 (Head coach: Anil Kumble); Foreign coaches: 2 (Fast bowling coach: Courtney Walsh-WI, Batting coach: Geaorge Bailey-Aus)

Delhi Capitals I Indian coaches: 0; Foreign coaches: 3 (Head Coach: Ricky Ponting-Aus, Fast bowling coach: James Hopes-Aus, Spin coach: Samuel Badree-WI)

Kolkata Knight Riders I Indian coaches: 0 Foreign coaches: 3 (Head coach: Brendon McCullum-NZ, Chief mentor: David Hussey-Aus, Bowling coach: Kyle Mills-NZ)

Mumbai Indians I Indian Coaches: 1 (Robin Singh); Foreign coaches: 2 (Head coach: Mahela Jayawardene-SL, Bowling coach: Shane Bond-NZ)

Chennai Super Kings I Indian coaches: 0 Foreign coaches: 3 (Head coach: Stephen Fleming-NZ, Batting coach: Mike Hussey-Aus, Bowling Consultant: Eric Simmons-SA)

Sunrisers Hyderabad I Indian coaches: 0; Foreign coaches: 1 (Head coach: Trevor Bayliss-Eng) Royal Challengers Bangalore I Indian coaches: 0; Foreign coaches: 2 (Head coach: Simon Katich-Aus, Bowling coach: Adam Griffith-Aus)

Controversies: 2008-16

The Times of India, December 3, 2016

1. 2016: Maharashtra asked to shift IPL matches

Bombay High Court asks IPL to shift 13 matches out of Maharashtra due to severe drought in the state.

2. 2015: CSK and RR suspended

Supreme Court suspends CSK and RR for two years. Two new teams, Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions, are introduced. Rajasthan Royals’ leggie Pravin Tambe alleges that his Mumbai teammate Hiken Shah had approached him to fix a few games.

3. 2014: IPL 7 conducted under Gavaskar’s supervision

The first half of IPL-7 is moved out of India to the UAE due to polls, and by SC orders the event is conducted under ex-captain Sunil Gavaskar. The shifting of the final from Mumbai to Bangalore too causes a furore.

4. 2013: Betting allegations hit CSK & RR

Delhi Police arrest three Rajasthan Royals players — S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan — on charges of spot-fixing. The scandal overwhelms the IPL when Mumbai police haul up BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings’ team principal Gurunath Meiyappan on charges of alleged betting. The Rajasthan Royals face further trouble when Delhi Police level same charges against co-owner and Raj Kundra. Following intervention by the Supreme Court, Srinivasan is eventually eased out after a long-drawn battle.

5. 2012: Shah Rukh Khan banned from Wankhede Stadium premises

A sting operation exposes cricketers willing to bowl no-balls or indulge in under-hand dealings with franchises, leading the BCCI to ban Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali. I t leads to an uproar in Parliament to stop IPL. A heated on-field argument between opposition players Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir also makes for ugly viewing. Then, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is banned from the Wankhede Stadium premises after a scuffle with a Mumbai Cricket Association official. To top it all, RCB cricketer Luke Pomersbach is arrested on charges of molesting an American and assaulting her boyfriend.

6. 2010: Sunanda Pushkar’s ‘sweat equity’ in Kochi

Just before IPL 3, the governing council brings in two new teams, Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers, only for Modi to tweet about shady shareholding patterns and reveal Sunanda Pushkar’s ‘sweat equity’ in the Kochi set-up. The controversy forces Pushkar’s husband, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, to resign. Modi too is forced out.

7. 2009: IPL 2 shifted to South Africa

Then home minister P Chidambaram refuses to provide security for IPL 2 because of general elections, leading then-IPL commissioner Lalit Modi to shift the entire tournament to South Africa.

8. 2008: Harbhajan slaps Sreesanth.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh slaps India teammate S Sreesanth in Mohali and is banned, creating a furore.

Spot fixing case: 2013

See the graphics

Players involved in IPL-spot fixing

and

A timeline: Spot-fixing in IPL, May 2013-July 2015

Dhoni on the suspension of Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals

‘WHAT WAS THE PLAYERS’ MISTAKE?’| But Captain Dhoni Admits CSK Erred During 2013 Fixing Saga| March 2019 | PTI

In July 2015, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended from the cash-rich league for two years for betting activities by their key officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra during the 2013 season.

While Dhoni agreed that then BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Meiyappan was part of the team setup, he said, in what capacity, is open to debate.

“Initially, when Guru’s name came up, (we knew) he was part of the team, all said and done. But in what capacity, that is debatable. Was he the owner, the team principal, the motivator... what exactly was he?

“I don’t know if anyone from the franchise introduced Guru to us as the owner... we all knew him as the son-in-law.”

What mistake did the players make, asked Mahendra Singh Dhoni, opening up on a phase of life made “most difficult and depressing” by the 2013 IPL fixing scandal. Dhoni broke his silence in a docudrama aptly titled Roar of the Lion, which focuses on the scandal that rocked Indian cricket and the ensuing fairy tale comeback by Chennai Super Kings following a two-year suspension for its management’s role in spot-fixing.

Dhoni, who led the CSK to three IPL titles, said they knew a “harsh punishment” was on the cards.

“We did deserve the punishment but the only thing is the quantum of the punishment. Finally we got to know that CSK will be banned for two years. There was a mixed feeling that time. Because you take a lot of things personally and, as a captain, question what did the team do wrong,” Dhoni stated.

“Yes there was mistake from our side (the franchise) but were the players involved in this? What mistake did we, as players, do to go through all of that?”

Recalling the torrid time when insinuations and allegations flew thick and fast, Dhoni said fixing a match requires the involvement of the majority of players.

“They started showcasing in the media or social media as if the team was involved. Is it possible (in cricket)? Yes it is possible, anyone can do spot-fixing. Umpires can do that, batsmen can, bowlers can... but match-fixing needs the involvement of the majority of the players.”

The IPL numbers

The Times of India

IPL broadcast rights

In 2008, the consortium of India's Sony Television network and the Singaporebased World Sports Group (WSG) had secured the rights of the IPL for ten years at a cost of more than $1 billion.As part of the deal, the consortium would pay the BCCI $908 million for the telecast rights and $108 million for the promotion of the tournament. However, in a reworked deal next year, BCCI signed a new deal with MSMPL (Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd) and World Sport Group (WSG) for Rs 8,200 crore with 80% of the amount to come from MSMPL. Later WSG exited the deal after a one-time payoff.

IPL title rights

DLF had bought the title rights of the IPL for five years in 2008 for Rs 200 crore.In 2013, Pepsi bid for the rights for the next five years and won it at Rs 396 crore.

2017-22: Vivo pays Rs 2,199 crore

K ShriniwasRao, Value of IPL title rights surges 455% as Vivo shells out Rs 2,200cr, June 28, 2017: The Times of India

See graphic, 'Title Rights, Indian Premier League'

Cricket administration may be going through turbulent times in India, but the game's fortunes continue to prosper in a manner that defies imagination .

Chinese mobile-maker Vivo retained the Indian Premier League (IPL) title rights for the next five years at Rs 2,199 crore, a 455% increase over the previous contract. Vivo had taken over the rights from PepsiCo from the 2015 season onwards after the latter expressed its inability to continue with its Rs 396 crore deal for five years. Pepsi had bought the title rights from the 2013 season onwards after IPL's first-ever title rights deal worth Rs 200 crore for five years ­ signed in 2008 with real estate company DLF ­ ended post the 2012 season.

Breaking it down on a per year basis, the value of IPL's title rights has soared from Rs 40 crore annually (Rs 200 crore from 2008-2012) to Rs 79.2 crore (Rs 396 crore for 2013-2017) ­ to Rs 439.8 crore (Rs 2199 crore for 2018-2022). Or, to put it another way, the value doubled after the first five years of IPL and shot up another five times in the following five years.Vivo's competitor and another major Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Oppo, bid Rs 1430 crore ­ Rs 769 crore less than what Vivo brought to the table. Oppo had beaten Vivo in March this year when it went on to grab the jersey rights of the Indian cricket team ­ men, women, seniors and juniors ­ for Rs 1,079 crore, a four-fold increase over the previous deal with Star India. Interestingly, Vivo and Oppo are owned by the same Chinese company -BBK Electronics -which also owns the OnePlus mobile brand.

“We received an overwhelming response for the title sponsorship rights and we are glad to have Vivo back on board. It is a renewal of a fruitful relationship with the brand that will extend for the next five years,“ BCCI's acti n g s e c re t a r y A m i t ab h Choudhary said.

Chinese mobile companies, which dominate the phone industry across the world outside of giants Apple and Samsung's considerable clout, have clearly found cricket to be the ideal platform to showcase their wares. Market sources credit the `invasion' to the incomparable popularity of cricket in the country, one that can be equated with football in Europe and baseball in the Americas merely for the eyeballs it manages to generate.

Valuation of the IPL

2014-19

See graphic:

The valuation of the IPL (2014-19) and its franchises (2019)

IPL jinxed for team owners?

The Times of India, Jul 17 2015

K ShriniwasRao

A leading Mumbai businessman, once interested in buying an Indian Premier League franchise today wants nothing to do with the glamorous cricket league. He believes IPL is bringing bad luck to team owners. Dramatic as it may sound, a quick look at where the owners have landed up post their IPL buys tends to lend credence to this expression of superstition. The businessman was insistent: “Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy , Venkattram Reddy , the Maran brothers, even Lalit Modi -just look where they are.Isn't it eerie?“ As facts go, the businessman isn't off the mark. Subrata Roy is in jail, Reddy was ar rested, Mallya is in trouble with the authorities, Maranowned Sun TV is having prob lems with the home ministry over security clearances, Lalit Modi is wanted by ED, and Sunanda Pushkar is dead. Even love has gone missing from Ness Wadia and Pre ity Zinta's lives. And N Srinivasan has lost his prized BCCI president's chair.

Wait, not just Srinivasan.His son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, a mere cricket enthusiast according to his father-inlaw, has been pulled up by the Supreme Court for talking to bookmakers and banned for life from cricket. Ditto with another part owner, Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals.

Those who have bucked the trend are movie star Shah Rukh Khan, India's biggest businessman Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita, and the Delhi franchisee GMR.

Heck, the league itself is now in massive trouble. The judgment delivered by the SC-appointed Justice Lodha committee has reduced the IPL to just six teams of which, again, some are in serious financial trouble.

T Venkattram Reddy, the strapping boss of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, from Hyderabad, lost his team Deccan Chargers after cases of financial fraud with several banks began surfacing post 2011.

And the owners who replaced the team in Hyderabad ­ Maran Brothers of Sun TV ­ are also struggling. Once the eyes and ears of former DMK chief M Karunanidhi, the Chennai media barons are no longer politically protected.Apart from the cloud over their TV channels, they have had to sell their airline SpiceJet back to the original promoter.

Is this the reason why Parth Jindal of Bangalore-based JSW Group doesn't want to get into the IPL?

YEAR-WISE HISTORY

2013-14

See graphics

IPL: 2013

IPL: 2014-2015

2016

See graphics

The IPL auction of Feb 2016: The main buys

IPL, 2016, some facts

2017

Players retained and offloaded

See graphics,

Players retained and released, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore

Players retained and released, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune supergiants

Players retained and released, Gujarat Lions and Kings Xi Punjab

Players retained and released, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians

The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time India XI

The greatest IPL players of all time (till April 2017), All-time international players XI

The 2017 auctions

Manuja Veerappa, Feb 21 2017: The Times of India

Stokes Sets League Record As Highest-Paid Foreign Player; Mills, Woakes Too Cash In

England's cricketers dominated proceedings and extracted the maximum from franchises as aspirants went under the hammer in the 10th edition of the IPL auction. Leading the pack was allrounder Ben Stokes, 25, who became the most expensive overseas IPL player when he was snapped up by Pune for Rs. 14.50 crore. Stokes' teammate Tymal Mills was the next big gainer at Rs 12 crore. Starting off at a base price of Rs 50 lakh, the left-arm pacer saw aggressive bidding from Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB, looking to fill the void left by Mitchell Starc, splurged on the 24-year-old, a T20 specialist who is expected to be available through the league.

Another English player to come at a hefty price was all-rounder Chris Woakes, who went to Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 4.2 crore while his T20 skipper Eoin Morgan (Rs 2 crore) found a buyer in Punjab.

Although the teams had 354 players to choose from, only 160 came into the main auction. While the dominance of the England players was expected, the eye-popping figures was surprising since most of them would be available only during the league stage.

The other big foreign buys were Kagiso Rabada (SA, Delhi Daredevils, Rs 5 cr), Trent Boult (NZ, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rs 5 cr), Pat Cummins (Aus, Delhi Daredevils, Rs 4.5 cr) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (Aus, KKR, Rs 3.5cr).

It was a windfall for domestic cricketers too, led by all-rounder Karn Sharma. The top pick in 2014 (Rs 3.8 crore) emerged the highest paid Indian this time with Mumbai Indians spending Rs 3.2 crore on him. He was followed by Tamil Nadu pacer T Natarajan (Rs 3 crore, Kings XI Punjab). Off the maximum 77 players, including 29 overseas who could be picked, 66 players found teams on the day, 27 of them being foreign cricketers. Pune looked like they had an expensive shopping list and spent Rs 17.2 crore off the Rs 17.5 crore in their kitty on buying nine cricketers.

In contrast, Gujarat Lions barely loosened their purse strings, spending a mere Rs 3.85 crore off the Rs 14.35 crore they had. But they still managed to take home 11 players with Jason Roy (England) at Rs 1 crore being their most expensive purchase.

In a first, two Afghans and one UAE player Chirag Suri will be handed their maiden IPL contracts. It is the only instance of Associate players being picked after Ryan ten Doeschate of Holland.

Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad welcomed the Afghans -Rashid Khan Arman and Mohammed Nabi. Arman, the 18-year-old leggie who made his international debut in 2015, went for a jaw-dropping Rs 4 crore (base price: 50 lakh) with the VVS Laxman-mentored SRH winning the bidding war with Mumbai Indians. All-rounder Nabi, on the other hand, had to settle for his base price of Rs 30 lakh. Suri, went to Gujarat for his base price of Rs 10 lakh.

Prior to Stokes going under the hammer, the proceedings at the auction resembled the lull before a storm. Even before auctioneer Richard Madley could finish announcing Stokes' name, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians raised the paddle.

While RCB pulled out at the Rs 4-crore mark, Delhi Daredevils jumped into the fray at Rs 4.20 crore and dropped out soon after. Mumbai, who came into the auction with a purse Rs. 11.555 crore, stretched themselves until Rs 10 crore.

The surprise omissions of Feb 2017

Feb 21 2017, The Times of India

NO TAKERS FOR TAHIR, ISHANT SHARMA

ISHANT SHARMA He is the highest-ranked bowler in ODIs and T20s, but South African spinner Imran Tahir failed to find buyers at Monday's auction. Tahir has 29 wickets in three IPL seasons since 2014 and had formed a lethal combination with Amit Mishra for Delhi Daredevils last season. Also missing the IPL bus were India pacer Ishant Sharma, Windies all-rounder

Jason Holder and Aussies Brad Haddin and Nathan Lyon.

LIST OF ESTABLISHED NAMES WHICH WERE IGNORED:

Ishant Sharma (2cr), Jason Holder (1.5cr), Brad Haddin (1.5cr), Nathan Lyon (1.5cr), Jonny Bairstow (1.5cr), Kyle Abbott (1.5cr), Alex Hales (1cr), Marlon Samuels (1cr), Ross Taylor (50L), Irfan Pathan (50L), Brad Hogg (50L), Mitchell Santner (50L), Imran Tahir (50L), Ish Sodhi (30L).In brackets: Base price

The surprise omissions of Feb 2017/ 2

The IPL auction of Feb 2017, The main buys

See graphics

The IPL auction of Feb 2017, The main buys (1 and 2)

How the teams stack up after the Feb 2017 auction

Unknown Indian players who made it big at the Feb 2017 auctions

2017/ IPL- 10

See graphic. The highlights of IPL- 10, 2017

Did high player salaries result in success?

Manuja Veerappa, May 23, 2017: The Times of India

See graphic

IPL-10: Some Investments Went Down The Drain Although A Few Teams Used Their Big Buys Well

If Tymal Mills' IPL performance is measured by his bid price, then each of the five wickets he claimed for Royal Challengers Bangalore came with a mindboggling tag of Rs 2.40 crore! The England pacer, who at Rs 12 crore was the second costliest player at IPL-10, did not do anything extraordinary in the five appearances he made for his franchise.

A T20 specialist, Mills was among the 21 players who hit pay dirt after being picked for a crore or more at the auction held in February . While Ben Stokes (Rising Pune Supergiant) was the costliest at Rs 14.5 crore, others like M Ashwin (Delhi Daredevils), Dan Christian (Rising Pune Supergiant) and Pawan Negi (RCB) earned Rs 1 crore each at the auction.While a few justified their price tags, some disappointed, while the others returned home after being benched through the season.

Stokes and Christian were Pune's main picks at the auction and wise ones at that.Stokes was at the heart of Pune's campaign in the 12 matches he played before joining the England team. Electric and quick as a fielder, the all-rounder claimed 12 wickets at an average of 26.33 and scored 316 runs including an unbeaten century (103 n.o.). His presence in the Pune dressing room turned out to be invaluable for the team. Likewise, Christian with 11 wickets from 13 matches didn't do badly either.

Apart from Pune, the teams for whom investment in crorepati players turned out to be profitable were Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The pace trio of Trent Boult (Rs 5cr), Chris Woakes (Rs 4.2cr) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (Rs 3.5cr) was Kolkata's top buys of the season.While Boult wasn't in peak form, Woakes turned out to be the bowling trump card for Kolkata, picking up 17 wickets in 13 matches.Coulter-Nile too fared well with 15 wickets from eight outings including his three-for in the Eliminator against Hyderabad.

Afghan spinner Rashid Khan and pacer M Siraj didn't disappoint Hyderabad. A Rs 2-crore investment in veteran Aussie pacer Mitchell Johnson proved to be a game-changer for Mumbai, who were also rewarded for their faith in Karn Sharma (Rs 3.2cr), who saw them through to the final with his tidy bowling. In contrast, Karnataka's spin bowler K Gowtham, who created a buzz after attracting a Rs 2-crore bid, didn't get to play even a game for Mumbai.

2018

The auction

See graphics:

Some facts about the teams and players in IPL, January 2018 (Day 1 and day 2)

Top buys for IPL, January 2018 (Day 1 and day 2)

The main deals/ 1

Manuja Veerappa, Stokes leads IPL crorepati club, January 28, 2018: The Times of India

See graphic:

Big names that went unsold, 2018

Englishman Rakes In Rs 12.5 Crore; Jackpot For Rahul & Pandey Too

Many Indian Premier League dreams took flight and a few were crushed as a virtual conveyor belt of 110 established stars and littleknown players went under the hammer on Saturday, the opening day of the two-day IPL mega auction.

Like last year, England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who went for Rs. 14.5 crore in 2017, hit paydirt as Rajasthan Royals snapped him up for a whopping Rs 12.5 crore, making him the most expensive buy of the day and most likely of the auction. A pending case against him made no difference to the Englishman’s market value as Chennai Super Kings made the first charge followed by Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders before Rajasthan Royals jumped into the bidding war at the Rs 12-crore mark.

Asked about the availability of Stokes, Ranjit Barthakur, chairman and CEO of Royals, said, “As far as we are concerned, the ECB has cleared him for auction; he’s legally available, therefore we’ve bid for him. He’s a very important part. We’re trying to build the team and an all-rounder is absolutely important.”

Stokes was followed by KL Rahul and Manish Pandey. The batting talents from Karnataka commanded a mind-boggling Rs 11 crore each which Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad paid with glee. Mitchell Starc (KKR, Rs 9.40cr), Rashid Khan (SRH; Rs 9cr) and R Ashwin (KXIP; Rs. 7.60cr) were the top bowlers to earn the mega bucks.

UNCAPPED PLAYERS CALL THE SHOTS

As many as 40 uncapped cricketers from India and abroad were paraded. Of them, 19 hit the jackpot, with the price soaring beyond the Rs 1-crore mark. Krunal Pandya (base price Rs 40 lakh) was the biggest gainer among them, taking home a cool Rs 8.8 cr from his home team Mumbai Indians who exercised the RTM privilege even as teams like Bangalore, Royals and Hyderabad engaged in a bidding war for the all-rounder. Even as RCB sealed the deal, Mumbai owners pulled out the RTM card.

Jofra Archer, the 22-year-old medium-pacer from West Indies was the other big gainer on the day as Royals snapped him up for Rs 7.20 crore. Another overseas uncapped crorepati was D’Arcy Short, the 27-year-old lefthanded batsman-spinner from Australia also going to Royals. Both players have had a golden run at the ongoing Australian Big Bash League.

U-19 stars Kamlesh Nagarkoti (Rs 3.2 crore), Shubman Gill (Rs. 1.8 cr), Prithvi Shaw (Rs. 1.2 cr) too joined the elite crorepati club.

SOME STARS GET COLD SHOULDER

Franchises went mostly on current form and youth rather than reputation and experience. The price tags of some of the old warhorses is a case in point. Yuvraj Singh, who was the highest-paid player of 2014 and 2015, went for his base price of Rs 2 cr to Kings XI Punjab, while Chennai, who went for tried and tested players, were the sole bidders for Harbhajan Singh (Rs 2 cr). The franchises were not overenthusiastic when Gautam Gambhir’s name was called out and Delhi Daredevils welcomed him back for Rs 2.80 crore (base price Rs 2 crore).

GAYLE GOES UNSOLD

Meanwhile, explosive West Indies batsman Chris Gayle found no takers. Even RCB didn’t look interested.

Highlights

January 28, 2018: The Times of India

See graphic:

10 things to know about IPL auction, 2018

Players sold/ 1

See graphic:

Players sold, day 1, (IPL auction, 2018)

The main deals/ 2

See graphic:

IPL auction (day 2, 2018), some brief facts

Most expensive uncapped players

January 28, 2018: The Times of India

MOST EXPENSIVE UNCAPPED PLAYERS

Krunal Pandya (Rs 8.8 cr, MI – RTM; Base price Rs 40 lakh), Jofra Archer (Rs 7.2 cr, RR; BP Rs 40 lakh), Ishan Kishan (Rs 6.2 cr, MI; BP: Rs 40 lakh), D’Arcy Short (Rs 4 cr, RR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Deepak Hooda (Rs 3.6 cr, SRH – RTM; BP: Rs 40 lakh), Siddharth Kaul (Rs 3.8 cr, SRH; BP: Rs 30 lakh), Nitish Rana (Rs 3.4 cr, KKR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Rahul Tripathi (Rs 3.4 cr, RR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (Rs 3.2 cr, KKR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Vijay Shankar (Rs 3.2 cr, DD; BP: Rs 40 lakh), Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 3.2 cr, MI; BP: Rs 30 lakh), Ankit Rajpoot (Rs 3 cr, KXIP; BP:Rs 30 lakh), Navdeep Saini (Rs 3 cr, RCB; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Khaleel Ahmed (Rs 3 cr, SRH; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Rahul Tewatia (Rs 3 cr, DD; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Shubman Gill (Rs 1.8 cr, KKR; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Prithvi Shaw (Rs 1.2 cr, DD; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Manan Vohra (Rs 1.1 cr, RCB; BP: Rs 20 lakh), Mayank Agarwal (Rs 1 cr, KXIP; BP: Rs 20 lakh).

Lesser known players selected in 2018

Manuja Veerappa, RR Break Bank For Pacer, Shell Out ₹11.5Cr To Make Him Costliest Indian, January 29, 2018: The Times of India

Auction in IPL- team, players bought and amount spent

About an hour-and-a-half into the second day of the IPL auction, the money left with the franchises started to decrease with capped pacers commanding a good price. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals — the teams with the biggest purse — had one pacer on their ‘mustbuy’ list and the latter had the last laugh.

It turned out to be a blockbuster Sunday for left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat as he went for a mind boggling ₹ 11.5 crore, making him the second most expensive player of this season behind IPL teammate Ben Stokes (₹12.5 crore).

Starting off at a base price of ₹ 1.5 crore, it was common knowledge that the 26-yearold will be among the hot picks given his T20 credentials which includes 24 wickets last season, Chennai Super Kings were the first to bid for him and Kings XI Punjab jumped in immediately. Rajasthan Royals, who were mute spectators until the bid crossed the ₹11-crore mark, upped the ante and made the winning bid for the Saurashtra bowler, who last season went to Rising Pune Supergiants for his base price of ₹30 lakh. As the auction drew to a close, 169 of the 581 players found a team with a total of ₹431.7 crore spent on them. This included 56 overseas players from across nine countries. Earlier, Kings XI Punjab fought it out with Chennai for Australian pacer Andrew Tye before bagging him for ₹7.2 crore. After an intense paddle war between Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, Karnataka spinner and a handy bat K Gowtham went to Royals for an impressive ₹6.2 crore.

AFGHANS HIT JACKPOT

Over the weekend, four players from Afghanistan generated a lot of buzz. After Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi returned to Sunrisers Hyderabad, 16-year-old Mujeeb Zadran and Zahir Khan went to Punjab and Rajasthan Royals respectively.

Mujeeb, who hails from Khost, a town 250km from Kabul, shot into the limelight last year when he picked up four wickets on debut against Ireland. The offie, often referred to as a mystery spinner, started with a base price of ₹50 lakh and Punjab and Delhi Daredevils immediately engaged in intense bidding. Delhi dropped out at ₹3.80 crore and Punjab sealed the deal at ₹4 crore. Mujeeb’s compatriot Zahir, went for ₹ 60 lakh from a base price of ₹20 lakh.

INVESTMENT IN FUTURE

With an eye on the future, the franchisees picked a total of seven India U-19 players, of whom four were bought on the second day. Speed gun Shivam Mavi went for ₹ 3 crore to Kolkata Knight Riders while big hitters Abhishek Sharma and Manjot Kalra were both snapped up by Delhi Daredevils for ₹55 lakh and ₹20 lakh respectively. Left-arm spinner Anukul Roy headed to the Mumbai Indians camp for ₹20 lakh.

A FIRST FOR NEPAL CRICKET

Nepal’s spin bowler Sandeep Lamichhane became the first player from Nepal to bag an IPL contract when Delhi got him on board for ₹20 lakh. The 17-year-old is highly rated by former Australian skipper Michael Clarke, who mentored him during a league in Hong Kong.

GAYLE GETS THIRD TIME LUCKY

West Indies big-hitter Chris Gayle, a marquee player who went unsold on the opening day and in the second session of the second day, emerged lucky the third time when Punjab successfully bid for him at his ₹ 2-crore base price. Likewise, Murali Vijay too was brought in the first round of the accelerated process by Chennai Super Kings at his base price (₹ 2 crore). Another current international Parthiv Patel (₹ 1.70 cr) headed to Royal Challengers Bangalore as did Mitchell Johnson (₹ 2 crore, KKR) and Tim Southee (₹1crore, RCB). Among the big names who failed to attract any bidders were Dale Steyn, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptill, Joe Root, Nathan Lyon and Tymal Mills, who was the second most expensive player last season at ₹ 12 crore.

The youngest, the oldest, average age

Partha Bhaduri, April 6, 2018: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

IPL has also welcomed those simply hoping to revive sagging mid-career fortunes with a booster shot of cricketing glory

In 2016, the average age of the top-10 was 29.10. Three players were above 30, and one was below 25

Last season the average age of the top-10 grew again to 30.30, with seven batsmen above 30 in the list

Worried about age spots? An IPL treatment may be just what you need. We’re not talking about the intense pulsed light cosmetic procedure so common in the beauty industry, but the glowing cricketing equivalent, the Indian Premier League. Since its inception in the nascent days of T20 strategizing, the league has been a haven for those seeking to smoothen the wrinkles of a post-retirement life. IPL has also welcomed those simply hoping to revive sagging mid-career fortunes with a booster shot of cricketing glory. Even at the auctions, reputation has tended to precede both skills and promise in the expense stakes.

This time around, the trend seems to have been bucked at the auctions, either because of a large number of available cricketers in the twilight of their careers or a more deliberate move from franchises to bank on fresh legs.

Some like CSK, though, have remained firmly in favour of veterans. Their logic is a proven one: the T20 game is a short one, so those high on skill and experience but low on youthful energy won’t be caught out in a hurry. They can, instead, shave off the years when it comes to performance.

CSK seem to have done their homework on the batting front. For the past three IPL seasons, the average age of the top 10 batting performers has been rising slowly and steadily. In 2015, the average age of the top-10 was 28.50, with Chris Gayle being the oldest at 35 (at that time) and Ajinkya Rahane being the youngest then at 26, which means all 10 batsmen were above 25. Four were above 30.

In 2016, the average age of the top-10 grew to 29.10, although only three were above 30, and one was below 25 (Quinton de Kock, 23 at the time). This was because of a large concentration of cricketers in the 27-34 age group, when a batsmen is in his prime.

Last season the average age of the top-10 grew again to 30.30, with seven batsmen above 30 in the list. The oldest was Gautam Gambhir at 35, the youngest Rahul Tripathi at 26. This doesn’t mean, though, that seniority is a guarantee of success and the other franchises have erred in banking on youth. A similar peek into the top-10 bowlers reveals the average age has been shrinking, from 28.80 in 2015 to 26.60 in 2017.

Interestingly, the average age of the worst batting performers too has been rising steadily. The top-10 worst batting performers (taking into consideration batting positions No. 1 to 6 only, minimum 11 innings) had an average age of 30.4 last season, up from 28.7 in 2016. That means banking on senior players is often a gamble. So what’s an IPL team management to do when picking a side?

For one, picking younger bowlers is the way to go. The days of the Nehras, Hoggs and Tambes may be over. On the batting front, there is an important difference in the ‘best and ‘worst’ sets: the ‘worst of ’ batting lists tend to be thinner on performers of pedigree, meaning who have also excelled with the bat at international level in ODI or Test cricket over time.

The highest, fittest achievers are more adept at stretching peak performance well into their 30s. So if you’re picking seniors, picking the ones with the best international records may be the way to go.

This time at the auction, many franchises displayed a tendency to pick younger domestic performers, the likes of Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Rahul Tripathi and Ishan Kishan, to name just three. That means they have spent less on some proven but ageing players. This may have saved owners money, but until it translates into winning performances, their furrowed brows may not smoothen soon.

IPL business model

IPL runs on a Central and Local pool of sponsorships for revenues. Broadcasters, tournament sponsors, title rights holders and bid monies form the central pool. Gate money, in-stadia advertising, franchise sponsors and merchandising make for the Local Pool. The Central Pool revenue is shared by all eight franchises on a percentage basis. The franchise has to fend for itself where Local Pool is concerned.

Future

The players from Royals and CSK franchise cannot be bought by or absorbed in any other franchise. Each team has a limit of 26 players and a fixed purse. For CSK and RR players to participate in IPL, the BCCI will have to float a tender for two fresh teams. There is no restriction if CSK and RR want to sell their franchises ahead of the coming season, after BCCI clearance. A full-fledged auction of all players is now scheduled after the 2016 edition of IPL.Both Royals and CSK have 26 players each and so do most other franchises. CSK has one-year contracts with most of its cricketers, who can go back into the auction pool but other franchises will have to off-load players to be able to buy them. With Kochi Tuskers winning their arbitration with BCCI, they're free to participate in IPL. Some players can be included in the Kochi franchise if they agree to play the tournament. However, one new franchise will still have to be auctioned. If Kochi Tuskers are unwilling to play, BCCI will have to auction two new franchises. IPL broadcast rights are up for a resale in 2017.

The finals (graphic)

See graphic:

The results of the IPL finals, 2018: CSK beat SRH
CSK’s performance in the finals, 2008-2018

The best batsmen, bowlers IPL 2018

Gaurav Gupta, Veteran Aussie Pulverises SRH With Blazing Century As Chennai Canter To Title, May 28, 2018: The Times of India

“Teams win games, but finals are won by individuals,” MS Dhoni had quipped on the eve of the IPL final between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. His words proved prophetic as Shane Watson smashed the highest-ever score in an IPL final to seal the 2018 crown for CSK.

Watson pulverized the Sunrisers bowlers during his breathtaking, unbeaten 117 (57b, 11x4, 8x6) to turn the summit clash into a ridiculously one-sided affair at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday night.

The Aussie’s blazing century, his second of the tournament, completed a fairytale return to the IPL for CSK, who clinched their third title after being banned for two years.

When he took 10 balls to get off the mark, little did one realize that Wason would explode in such a fashion that CSK would gallop home with as many as nine balls and eight wickets still intact. Chasing 179, the 37-year-old chose to be cautious at the start as he played out Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first over for a maiden.

After taking his time to get his eye in, Watson tore into one of the best attacks of the tournament with his devastating blade.

Sandep Sharma won’t forget the mauling that he received in the 13th over from Watson in a hurry. Ball after ball, the young medium-pacer ran in, trying the slower, knuckle delivery outside off stump, which normally ties up a batsman in knots in T20 cricket. However, on Sunday night, those deliveries landed deep into the stands behind long on, thrice in succession.

Between this six-hitting spree, Watson carted the youngster, who was consoled by his captain Kane Williamson, for two fours too, in an over which cost the Sunrisers 27 runs, and reduced the remaining part of the chase to a canter. To add to the Sunrisers’ woes, pacer Siddharth Kaul endured a horrible night as well, going for 43 for three overs, even as the experienced Watson negated the Rashid threat too.

Watson found an able ally in Suresh Raina (32), as the pair added 117 in 57 balls for the second wicket, after Faf du Plessis was dismissed early.

Earlier, Sunrisers picked up pace in the second half of their innings to post a competitive 178 for six.

Put in by Dhoni, the Sunrisers were initially pegged back by good spells from seamers Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar. Ngidi even bowled a maiden in his first spell.

SRH suffered an initial setback when ‘keeper-bat Shreevats Goswami, who replaced an injured Wriddhiman Saha, was run out by Karn Sharma while going for a needless second run.

That blow meant skipper Kane Williamson was in the middle by the second over. Together with Shikhar Dhawan (26, 25b, 2x4, 1x6), Williamson (47, 36b, 5x4, 2x6) stablized the innings. After Dhawan was castled by Ravindra Jadeja, middle-order batsmen Shakib Al Hasan (23, Yusuf Pathan (45 not out) and Carlos Brathwaite (21) all chipped in as SRH collected 105 from the last 10 overs.

The trio’s effort helped SRH get over the setback of losing Williamson, who was stumped while giving the charge to a Karn delivery which spun away far outside the off stump. Though he couldn’t complete what would’ve been his ninth fifty in the 2018 IPL, Williamson joined a rare club of batsmen who’ve completed 700 runs in a season.

The best performers/ first 30 games

See graphic:

IPL 11 (2018)- The best performers of the first 30 games

November: Extension, retention and dropping of players

Saibal Bose, Unadkat dropped over ‘high auction-price pressure’, November 16, 2018: The Times of India

Rajasthan Royals continue to surprise. After having snapped up medium-pacer Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 11.3 crore, the highest for an Indian in the IPL auctions held early this year, the Jaipur-based franchise dropped another bombshell by releasing him. The reason for the decision was apparently the player’s high auction price.

“When reviewing Jaydev’s contributions to the team, we felt there was too much pressure on him to deliver vis-a-vis his auction price and hence we thought it would be better to release him,” Royals head of cricket Zubin Bharucha told TOI.

Unadkat had failed to deliver to expectations in the last edition of the IPL, having taken just 11 wickets in 15 matches, with the economy rate was a shade below 10. Royals owner Manoj Badale had told TOI after the auctions that the idea was to plan their strategy around an Indian strike bowler and Unadkat fitted the bill.

“We want to go into the next auction with a free mind,” a Royals official told TOI. Jaipur is scheduled to host the auctions in the third week of December. Royals also released another much talked-about player, South Africa’s big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen. Australian batsman D’Arcy Short and veteran medium-pacer Ben Laughlin were also released.

DAREDEVILS RELEASE GAMBHIR

Delhi Daredevils expectedly released Gautam Gambhir, who stepped down as the team’s in the middle of the 2018 season after a poor run of form. Apart from Gambhir, Delhi also released Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Liam Plunkett, Mohammed Shami, Sayan Ghosh, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Naman Ojha. The retained Delhi players include captain Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Amit Mishra and teen sensation Prithvi Shaw.

SUNRISERS RETAIN WARNER, LET GO OF BRATHWAITE, SAHA

Sunrisers Hyderabad retained David Warner — who missed the 2018 season following the ball-tampering scandal — while releasing nine players, including West Indies T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite.

SRH retained 17 players. England’s Alex Hales and all-rounder Chris Jordan too were dumped by franchise. Among Indians, the notable player to be released was Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. Earlier, Sunrisers had traded opener Shikhar Dhawan for Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nazeem and Vijay Shankar with Daredevils.

KINGS RELEASE AXAR, YUVI, FINCH

India’s 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh, left-arm spinner Axar Patel and Australia’s current limitedovers skipper Aaron Finch were among 11 players released by Kings XI Punjab. A pale shadow of his once explosive self, the 36-year-old Yuvraj managed just 65 runs at an abysmal average of 10.83 in eight games. With 134 runs in 10 games@16.75, the usually consistent Finch too didn’t find runs. Others who have been released are Ben Dwarshuis, former India pacers Mohit Sharma and Barinder Sran, batsman Manoj Tiwary, Kashmir’s Manzoor Dar, Akshdeep Nath and Mayank Dagar. Kings XI finished seventh out of eight teams last year.

MUMBAI DROP CUMMINS, MUSTAFIZUR AND DUMINY

The Mumbai Indians on Thursday released South African batsman Jean-Paul Duminy, seamers Pat Cummins (Australia) and Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh) and Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya, while retaining 18 players. Cummins was bought by MI for Rs 5.4 crore, but was ruled out before the start of the last IPL due to injury. There were reports that Cricket Australia (CA) pulled him out due to fear of a burnout or injury during the tournament.

Mustafizur Rahman was purchased for Rs 2.2 crore, but played only seven matches last season, taking as many wickets. The left-arm paceman was with Sunrisers Hyderabad previously. Duminy was bought for Rs 1 crore, but played just six matches, in which he managed only 36 runs. MI have also released six domestic players — Saurabh Tiwary, Pradeep Sangwan, Sharad Lumba, Tajinder Singh Dhillon, UP pacer Mohsin Khan and Kerala’s MD Nidheesh.

The Mumbai franchise’s list of 10 released players includes one capped, five uncapped and four international players.

2019

The main deals at the auction

Saibal Bose, December 19, 2018: The Times of India

RR Keep Medium-Pacer At Lower Price, Kings XI Add Mystery To Their Attack

Rajasthan Royals continue to surprise. After releasing Jaydev Unadkat for being high priced, they bought him right back for Rs 8.40 crores, making him the joint costliest player at Tuesday’s auctions. Given that they had snapped up the left-arm medium-pacer for Rs 11.5 crores in February, Unadkat might be feeling robbed of Rs 3.1 crores.

There would be no mixed feelings for Varun Chakravarthy, the mystery spinner from Tamil Nadu, who matched Unadkat in money splurged on him. He hit the jackpot with Kings XI Punjab pocketing the 27-year old, who can bowl both leg-spin and offspin. It is said about Chakravarthy that he gets through his four overs before the rivals can unravel him. Staring at a base price of Rs 20 lakh, Chakravarthy went for 42 times that amount.

England’s Sam Curran was called in rather late, but some of the franchises seemed to have held back their purse for him. The all-rounder, whose reputation has soared since his performance against India, caused a bidding war among Kings Xi Punjab, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Punjab added him to their roster for Rs 7.20 crore, making him the costliest overseas player on Tuesday.

Even though bowlers were mainly in focus, South African batsman Colin Ingram was laughing his way to the bank with Delhi Capitals buying him for Rs 6.4 crore.

Mumbai youngster Shivam Dube quite expectedly generated interest after smashing five sixes in one over recently. Royal Challengers Bangalore added him to the kitty for Rs 5 crore, the same price that Mohit Sharma (CSK), Axar Patel (DC) and Carlos Braithwaite earned. The Bengaluru side’s management, in fact, spoke of Dube’s sixes while justifying his high price.

Kings XI threw up another stunner in outbidding Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians for 18-year-old wicketkeeper batsman Prabhsimran Singh (Rs 4.80 crore).

Among the players currently playing for Team India, Mohammad Shami was the top pick at Rs 4.80 crore. Kings XI Punjab, on a rebuilding spree, will most likely use him as their strike bowler.

Golden oldies like Brendon McCullum got the royal ignore while Yuvraj Singh had to be brought back, Mumbai Indians buying him at base price of Rs 1 crore. In fact, all the highestrated spinners were left unsold. Clearly, the franchises were looking for surprise elements like Chakravarthy. “He is unknown and that is an advantage,” KXIP CEO Satish Menon explained. “It’s also the World Cup year and we don’t know whom we might lose. Varun is more of a backup to Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Zadran.”

Teams in the final

See graphic, 'CSK vs. MI reached the final of IPL, 2019'

MI win the title

JAC Gladson, May 13, 2019: The Times of India

See graphics:

The IPL final, 2019- Scoreboard

MI beat CSK in the final of IPL, 2019

A proven track record does no good if you’re not good on the day. Having made his point beautifully on the eve of the IPL 2019 final against Chennai Super Kings, Rohit Sharma and Co. were expected to not just merely turn up, but put in an impressive performance. And by converting their words into deeds, Mumbai Indians not only won their fourth title but their one-run win over Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday was the second such finish – they had defeated Pune Warriors by the same margin in 2017.

In Chennai, Mumbai had an opposition that’s weathered many a storm, but in not refusing to give up or give in, Mumbai are now in a league of their own with the skipper making it a penta – four titles with Mumbai and one with Deccan Chargers.

As is their wont, Chennai turned the contest into a gripping finale and Rahul Chahar nearly cost them the game when he reprieved Shane Watson with the opener going great guns on 55. The Aussie smashed two overs for 20 runs each off Lasith Malinga (16th) and Krunal Pandya (18th) to negate all the good work Rahul Chahar had done by restricting Chennai to 72 for two at the halfway stage — they eventually had to rest content with 148/7.

When Watson finally fell with two deliveries to go for 80 (59b, 8x4, 6x4), Chennai still needed four. His 51-run partnership with Dwayne Bravo was not enough to see CSK cross the line with Lasith Malinga sounding the death knell by denying two runs off the last ball.

The start was just as exciting as the finish after the Mumbai skipper had no hesitation to bat first. But if Mumbai’s 149 for eight was a start-stop affair, Chennai had not reckoned with Mumbai’s bowling arsenal that slowly tilted the scales in their favour by choking runs in the middle.

Faf du Plessis was the initial aggressor, while Shane Watson took his time, but with Suresh Raina running out of luck, Ambati Rayudu coming a cropper and skipper MS Dhoni run-out going for a second on an overthrow, Mumbai cleverly wrested the initiative through Chahar’s excellent returns of one for 14, which included 13 dot balls and just one boundary.

2020

Mumbai Indians win fifth title

Gaurav Gupta, November 11, 2020: The Times of India

Is he really injured? If this final was something of a ‘fitness test’ for Rohit Sharma, the star opener passed it with flying colours. Rested from the Indian team’s white-ball leg for the impending tour to Australia due to a rather mysterious hamstring injury which has caused big controversy, the Mumbaikar churned out a captain’s knock, cracking 68 (51b, 5x4, 4x6) to lead the Mumbai Indians to their fifth Indian Premier League title, as they downed the Delhi Capitals by five wickets in a onesided final in Dubai.

Unleashing his trademark front-foot pulls off the fast bowlers and smashing the spinners down the ground with characteristic ease, Rohit seemed intent on making a simple point he made when he returned from his injury to play for MI: ‘I’m fit and fine.’ He perished to a superb diving catch by substitute fielder Lalit Yadav at deep midwicket while trying to hook Anrich Nortje, but the job was done by then.

Towards the end, MI suffered a couple of more hiccups when Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya went out cheaply but Ishan Kishan (33 not out, 19b, 3x4, 1x6) continued his fabulous form to take MI home.

It was title No. 5 for ‘Captain Rohit,’ and his sixth as a player in the IPL. A decade back, MI had, for the only time, lost an IPL final while chasing against CSK, but this time, chasing just 157, they didn’t falter again, managing to defend the title successfully. It’s the first time that MI have won a crown in an even year. In what has been a magnificent campaign for them, MI came up with another dominant display in the final, beating the Capitals for the fourth time this season.

Earlier, skipper Shreyas Iyer (65 not out, 50b, 6x4, 2x6) and Rishabh Pant (56 not out, 38b, 4x4, 2x6) struck form, digging the Capitals out from a deep hole when they had slipped to 22 for three by just the fourth over, but MI still managed to restrict them to 156 for seven.

Showing commendable fightback, Iyer and Pant dug in to add 96 in 69 balls for the fourth wicket to bail their team out of crisis and breathe some life into the summit clash. However, pulling things back brilliantly, MI conceded merely 38 in the final five overs to gain the upper hand.

For the eight time in this IPL, Man of the Match Trent Boult provided a breakthrough in the first over for MI when he had Marcus Stoinis caught behind off the very first ball of the match, the first such instance in an IPL final. Boult struck again when Ajinkya Rahane was caught down the legside for just two in the third over.

The Capitals suffered their biggest blow when talismanic batsman Shikhar Dhawan (15) missed a slog sweep off off-spinner Jayant Yadav to be castled for just 15. It’s not often that you see Dhawan mess up that stroke, but then whatever MI have touched this time has turned into gold.

2021

The entire list

February 19, 2021: The Times of India

IPL 2021: Full squad, players list of all eight teams

NEW DELHI: Every year, the IPL Player Auction brings with it a lot of excitement and thrill. Franchisees splurge large sums of money to seal a deal, while some players fail to find a bidder.

In the IPL 2021 Player Auction, South African all-rounder Chris Morris made headlines by becoming IPL's most expensive buy of all time. Morris was fetched by Rajasthan Royals for a mammoth Rs. 16.25 crore. Meanwhile Krishnappa Gowtham became the highest uncapped Indian buy of all time. He was bought by Chennai Super Kings for Rs. 9.25 crore.

Here's the full squad list of all eight IPL teams after the squads for the 2021 edition were finalised:

DELHI CAPITALS

Shreyas Iyer (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddarth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings

MUMBAI INDIANS

Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare (wk), Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neesham, Yudhvir Charak, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, N. Jagadeesan (wk), Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, R. Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Josh Hazlewood, KM Asif, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Harisankar Reddy, K. Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishanth

PUNJAB KINGS

KL Rahul (c&wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen , Saurabh Kumar

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Tim Seifert (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun CV, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

David Warner (c), Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Virat Singh, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Sanju Samson (c&wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Manan Vohra, Anuj Rawat, Riyan Parag, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Liam Livingstone, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Philippe (wk), AB de Villiers (wk), Pavan Deshpande, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, Harshal Patel, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian, Suyash Prabhudessai, KS Bharat

The auction

Prasad.RS, February 19, 2021: The Times of India

PAY DAY FOR ALLROUNDERS

RR Break Bank For Morris; Maxwell And Jamieson Fetch Big Money Too

Chennai:

With millions flying around the room, you wouldn’t expect social media to go into overdrive over a Rs 50 lakh or a Rs 20 lakh buy. But then, while Cheteshwar Pujara is an emotional favourite of many after his heroics in Test cricket, Arjun Tendulkar’s inclusion in the IPL auction list had become a point of debate. So, when Pujara finally got an IPL team — Chennai Super Kings — after seven years, the entire auction room applauded the gesture. “It was a mark of respect for all that Pujara has done for India,” a CSK official told TOI.

Arjun, on the other hand, was the last pick of the day as Zaheer Khan quietly raised the baton to have team mentor Sachin Tendulkar’s son in the set-up after two T20 game for Mumbai.

But before that, a few familiar stories played out. South African allrounder Chris Morris, with 34 runs and 11 wickets from nine games in IPL-13 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, broke all records to become the highest-paid player of the IPL. Rajasthan Royals, looking to rebuild again, paid 16.25 cr, edging out Punjab Kings in a bidding war. Morris’ price tag went past the Rs 16 cr record that was paid by RCB for Yuvraj Singh in 2015.

“We spoke to Morris before the auction and did a medical review to see if he can last the season. He’s in a bubble now in South Africa and about to play the domestic competition. He will play an important role for us in all phases of the game. He can win us the game with the bat as well and the ball,” said Jake Lush McCrum, RR’s COO. But then, that’s the reason RCB paid Rs 10 cr last time for the 33-year-old, but without much reward.

The auction lived up its tag of being allrounders’ ticket to big money. New Zealand’s Kylie Jamieson was bought for Rs 15 crore by RCB. He had scored a couple of 40s against India in Test matches in 2020 and gave Virat Kohli & Co a difficult time with his pace and bounce. Kohli must have taken a note of that and with Kiwi Mike Hesson as the coach, the decision was made to bring him in.

There was another usual suspect — Glenn Maxwell — who went for Rs 14.25 crore without hitting a single six in the last edition of the IPL in UAE for Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab). But on paper, he is one who can contribute handsomely both with the bat and ball, and that’s what led to a bidding war between CSK and RCB. CSK, quite uncharacteristically went till Rs 14 cr mark for the player, but then gave up as Kohli’s franchise looked for “impact players”.

CSK, desperate for spin-bowling allrounders, made two smart buys in the form of Moeen Ali (Rs 7 cr) and K Gowtham (Rs 9.25 cr). Gowtham became the highest-paid Indian at the auction. “Moeen can be an opener option too while Gowtham will fill two vacant spots — Kedar Jadhav and Harbhajan Singh,” a source said.

Another big-money buy was Australian pacer Jhye Richardson by Punjab Kings for Rs 14 cr. They needed a pace-bowling partner for Mohammad Shami after releasing Sheldon Cortrell following a hammering by Rahul Tewatia in one of the games last season. “We knew there would be competition for Richardson but we have the team we required,” team owner Preity Zinta, who also acquired England opener Dawid Mallan for Rs 1.5 cr, said. Punjab also got Tamil Nadu batsman Shahrukh Khan (Rs 5.4 cr), who was extremely impressive in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

The KKR table, which attracted eyeballs due to the presence of SRK’s son Aryan and Juhi Chawla’s daughter Jhanvi, brought Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan back in the team for Rs 3.25 cr along with veteran offie Harbhajan Singh for his base price of Rs 2 cr. MI, on the other hand, had Nathan Coulter Nile and Jimmy Neeham back as their medium-pace back-up for Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. SRH picked up Kedar Jadhav for Rs 2 cr late in the day to add some experience to their middle-order.

Delhi Capitals, too, quietly brought Steve Smith into their line-up for a mere Rs 2.2 crore.

‘Pujara a back-up for Raina’

Pujara’s return to the IPL fold was celebrated by most but there were voices who felt the Test specialist would have been better off playing County instead of sitting on the reserve-bench of CSK for two months. But it’s understood that CSK had a plan in place to get Pujara in and it was not just about respect for the stalwart. “He is a back-up for Suresh Raina, who hasn’t played cricket in a while,” a source said.

The fact that Dhoni wants players who are used to taking pressure is another reason behind Pujara’s inclusion in the squad.