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Indian Premier League on TV and Stream
The Indian Premier League is a highly-anticipated event on the cricket calendar. The Indian Premier League on TV is tuned into by the many millions of people who live in India, as well as by thousands of other people who watch the Indian Premier League on TV miles away too. It is not only a widely-watched sports on TV event but also the most attended cricket league in the world and the sixth most attended across all sports leagues. It is a hugely notable event not only for fans of cricket but in the sports calendar overall. This guide should provide you with everything you need to know about the sport, so you can get yourself ready to watch the Indian Premier League on TV yourself when it rolls around again next year. Oh, and if you want to know about the latest game happening within this league, be sure to keep checking this guide here!
Historical Background
The league is fairly young in its origins, only launching for the first time in 2008. Which makes its popularity as a sport on tv even more impressive. It was founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who some believe created it as a means to compete with the independent league, the Indian Cricket League, ICL, who had recruited many of its members. If this was the case, it worked, as the ICL soon closed down. However, these claims were refuted by a spokesperson for the Indian Premier League before its launch.
Following an auction to determine the owners of the league, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali, and Mumbai were announced to be the cities from which the teams participating would hail from. Over its short history, the participating teams have been changed around a bit. Most notably, the Pune Warriors India, who joined in 2011 before leaving again in 2013 due to financial issues. While more recently previous winners, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended for match-fixing and replaced by Rising Pune Supergiant and the Gujarat Lions for two seasons. However, since then, this has been undone. In total, 5 teams have left at some point during its history but in total, 7 of the original teams still remain.
League Format/Organization
The competition sees eight teams from eight cities across India participate in Twenty/20 cricket. It begins with a league round in which all the teams play one another twice, home and away. The top 4 teams that come out on top of the league and go forward to the next round, the playoffs, while the bottom 4 teams are eliminated.
The top two of these four teams play each other, with the winner qualifying directly for the final. The losing team then gets a second chance by playing in a second qualifying round. This is played against one of the two third and fourth placed teams, who play one another. The loser of this round is then directly eliminated, with the winner playing against the loser of the other fixture. Whoever wins this match, then goes on to face the team that had already reached the final. Naturally, there is one final match, where the winner is crowned.
A total of ₹50 million crore (US$7.2 million) can be won in the tournament, which is split among the team who qualified for the playoffs. As such, when it comes to live sports on tv there are very few that have so much cash on the line. The winning team get ₹20 million crore (US$2.9 million). While the first and second runners up receive 12.5 and 8.75 crores respectively. The fourth-placed team also wins 8.75 crores. The other four teams though, receive nothing.
Tournament Seasons
So far, there have been a total of 11 seasons that occur in either March, April or May each year. With the most recent competition ending on May 12th, 2019, which was won by the Mumbai Indians for the fourth time. This latest win gave them the title of the team with the most wins out of all the competitors in the league. In the final, they beat 2018’s winners, the Chennai Super Kings, who they were previously tied with for the most wins. However, the latter had previously been suspended for two years prior. As you can expect this was a major moment in the India Premier League on TV history.
However, what makes the Indian Premier League on TV such an exciting sport on TV to watch is the unpredictability of it. Only one has it been won two years consecutively by the same team, which happened in the 2010 and 2011 season. When it was accomplished by the Chennai Super Kings. Other than this, the Rajasthan Royals and Sunrise Hyderabad have won one title each, alongside the now defunct, Deccan Chargers. While the Kolkata Knight Riders have won twice at different times. All of which means that it is incredibly unpredictable and thus, an incredibly exciting sport on TV event.
Honours, Records, Stats and Notable Players
As mentioned, The Mumbai Indians have won the most titles, followed by Chennai Super Kings, who also have been runners up the most with 5 times. Indian-born Virat Kohlidagger holds the record for the most runs ever in the competition with a whopping 973 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, winning him the orange cap in 2016. While Dwayne Bravo from Trinidad & Tobago holds the record for most wickets, with 32, which won him the purple cap in 2013 for Chennai Super Kings.
Broadcasting
A company known as Star Sports in India hold the Indian Premier League on TV rights after accruing them for ₹163.475 billion (US$2.55 billion, £1.97 billion) in 2017. Games are distributed by these to different broadcasters across the world, which means you can watch the Indian Premier League on TV just as easily as you can watch any other sports on tv or live sports on TV event you might choose to. If you are a big fan of cricket, then no doubt, you are way ahead of this anyway. However, if you aren’t then you should do your utmost to try and find a way to tune into the Indian Premier League on TV in time for the next season and begin enjoying the action.