IPL 2025

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has evolved into much more than a cricket league - it's now a cultural celebration, a global sporting powerhouse, and arguably India's greatest sports export. Launched by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007, the IPL was conceptualised to merge the thrill of T20 cricket with the dynamics of city-based franchises, brand partnerships, and international stardom.

The Indian Premier League has become the world’s richest and most-watched cricket league and the second most expensive sporting league after the NFL, after the 2023 media rights sale, where BCCI sold IPL broadcast rights for a staggering 5.62B USD.

Every year, IPL starts in March and the final is played in the month of May. A total of 10 competitive teams from across the country take each other on in a fast-paced game for almost 2 months. These are not just teams - they're cricketing brands supported by millions of passionate fan bases. The IPL is such a big deal that the ICC actually blocks out time for it in its Future Tours Programme - so there are fewer international matches during that period, just to let the league take centre stage.

 Did You Know?

• The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) confirmed that the IPL is the most-viewed sports tournament in India.
• In 2010, it became the first sporting event globally to stream live on YouTube, breaking digital boundaries before most leagues even considered online streaming.
• Inspired by its success, India saw a wave of sports leagues emerge - Pro Kabaddi League, ISL (football), and Premier Badminton League, all modelled after the IPL’s format.

IPL's Economic Impact

From a cricket league to a financial behemoth, the Indian Premier League’s economic impact is staggering:

Broadcast & Media Rights

In 2023, the IPL pulled off massive revenue by selling its broadcasting rights at unprecedented prices. It sold its media rights for the next five seasons for a jaw-dropping 48390 Crores INR. That means each match was valued at approximately $13.4 million, putting the league right up there with global giants like the English Premier League and the NFL when it comes to per-match worth.

The broadcasting deal was split between Viacom18 (for digital) and Star (for television), ensuring that both online and TV viewers get seamless, high-quality coverage.

IPL’s 2024 Champions and the Road to IPL 2025

As of 2025, the league has successfully hosted seventeen seasons and eighteenth season of IPL already started on 22nd March. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were crowned IPL 2024 Champions, triumphing over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a gripping final. This victory added to KKR’s legacy and set the tone for a highly competitive IPL 2025.

Unique Insight

While much of the spotlight is on the game, the IPL’s business ecosystem from hospitality and merchandise to fantasy cricket and influencer campaigns has created a mini-industry. Reports estimate that IPL indirectly supports over 50,000 jobs annually, including vendors, technicians, performers, and ground staff.

History of IPL/Origin Story: How the Indian Premier League Was Born

The IPL was launched by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 13 September 2007, inspired partly by the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) which had emerged earlier that year. The BCCI's counter-strategy included:

• Increasing prize money in domestic tournaments
• Banning players who joined ICL
• Planning a franchise-based T20 league

With Lalit Modi spearheading the idea, the IPL was announced during the 2007 T20 World Cup. The first franchise auction held in January 2008 raised over $723 million, far exceeding expectations.

IPL Winners List (2008–2024): Year-by-Year Champions

Unique Insight: No team has ever defended their title since CSK in 2010-11, which highlights the unpredictable, competitive nature of the IPL.

IPL Expansion, Suspensions & Major Milestones

Expansion Timeline

• 2011: Kochi Tuskers Kerala & Pune Warriors India joined
• 2013: Sunrisers Hyderabad replaced Deccan Chargers
• 2016-17: Rising Pune Supergiant & Gujarat Lions filled in for suspended CSK & RR
• 2022: Gujarat Titans & Lucknow Super Giants were added, making it a 10-team league

Team Suspensions & Terminations

• Deccan Chargers: Terminated in 2012 due to financial issues
• Kochi Tuskers Kerala: Terminated after 1 season for breach of agreement
• Pune Warriors India: Withdrew in 2013 over financial disputes
• CSK & RR (2016–2017): Suspended due to spot-fixing scandal

Global Expansion

Many IPL franchise owners have expanded globally:

Insight: IPL is now the central hub for cricket’s franchise economy, influencing leagues across continents.

IPL 2025 Organisation & Governing Structure

The IPL Governing Council, headquartered at the Cricket Centre near Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, oversees the tournament operations.

Current Members of IPL Governing Counsil (As of March 2025):

• Arun Singh Dhumal - Chairman
• Devajit Saikia - Honorary Secretary, BCCI
• Prabhtej Singh Bhatia - Honorary Treasurer, BCCI
• Avishek Dalmiya - Member
• Chamundeswara Nath - ICA Representative
• CM Sane - CAG Nominee

The governing council ensures smooth scheduling, financial oversight, and enforcement of player and franchise regulations.

IPL Auctions, Squad Composition & Player Salaries

The IPL auction isn't just about picking players - it's where smart strategy meets pure drama. Every team has a purse of ₹120 crore to play with, and they’re required to spend at least 75% of it, making every bid count.

Squad Structure Rules: 

• Minimum squad size: 18 players
• Maximum: 25 players
• Maximum overseas players: 8
• Retention limit: 4 players
• RTM cards: Not currently active

Notable Auction Rule Highlights: 

• Under-19 players must have played at least one First-Class or List A match to be eligible.
• Players sign yearly contracts, extendable by 1–2 years.
• Foreign players receive salaries via home currency equivalents.

Player Insight: The average IPL salary among the top 10 highest-paid players now exceeds ₹12 crore. Yet, players only receive around 18% of IPL’s total revenue much less than other global sports leagues.

Rule Innovations exclusively in IPL: What Makes IPL Unique

From strategic timeouts to impact players, IPL has led cricket’s evolution:

Special IPL-Only Rules:

• Impact Player Rule: One substitute per team allowed mid-match.
• 2 Bouncers per Over (as of 2024)
• DRS includes wides & no-balls (since 2023)
• Strategic Timeouts: 2.5 minutes per team per innings
• Over Rate Enforcement: 5 fielders outside circle max if overs not completed in time
• Toss Flexibility: Teams can submit XI after toss

IPL 2025 Franchises, Home Cities, and Key Management

IPL All-Time Performance Stats (as of 1st March 2025)

IPL Records and All-Time Stats

Over the years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has served up unforgettable moments that have changed the way we look at T20 cricket. Whether it’s those monster sixes, game-changing bowling spells, unreal fielding efforts, or massive team totals - the IPL has been the perfect stage for legends to rise. As we gear up for IPL 2025, let’s take a closer look at some of the most jaw-dropping records in the tournament’s history.

Top Batting Records in IPL History

Here are the top individual batting records:

Stats Source:  https://cricketaddictor.com/indian-premier-league-ipl/stats/

IPL Stats Trivia: Virat Kohli’s 973 runs in one season is still unmatched - a feat many believe may never be broken due to today's squad rotations.

IPL Bowling Records That Made History

While batters take the limelight, the bowlers have often turned games on their heads with magical spells.

Stats Source:  https://cricketaddictor.com/indian-premier-league-ipl/stats/

Fielding Records: Behind the Scenes Heroes

Fielding often changes the course of tight games. Here are the men who’ve mastered this art:

IPL Team Records: Highest Highs & Lowest Lows

Team records reflect collective brilliance - or collapse. Here’s a snapshot of the best and worst:

New Perspective: With the rise in batting depth and power-hitting, 300+ totals may soon be a reality in IPL.

Top 10 Players with Most IPL Appearances (As of March 2025)

These icons have graced the league across multiple seasons, becoming household names.

Did You Know? Several players like Rayudu and Raina now mentor domestic and U-19 teams, continuing their legacy off the field.

IPL 2025 Awards

Orange Cap: IPL’s Batting Crown

The Orange Cap is awarded to the tournament’s top run-scorer. It’s a dynamic competition throughout the season, with the leading run-getter donning the cap during matches. The final holder keeps it till the next season.

Quick Facts:

• First Wearer: Brendon McCullum
• First Winner: Shaun Marsh (2008)
• Most Wins: David Warner (3 times)
• Recent Winner (2024): Virat Kohli (741 runs, Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Purple Cap: Bowling Brilliance Rewarded

The Purple Cap goes to the highest wicket-taker of the season. Like the Orange Cap, it’s an evolving title worn during matches by the current leader in wickets.

IPL Quick Facts: 

• Most Wins: Dwayne Bravo & Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2 each)
• Recent Winner (2024): Harshal Patel (24 wickets, Punjab Kings)

IPL Most Valuable Player (MVP)

Previously known as the "Man of the Tournament," the MVP Award is determined through a performance index that evaluates batting, bowling, fielding, and impact moments.

Recent Winner (2024): Sunil Narine (for all-round excellence)

Did You Know? The MVP system rewards a six more than a four and gives high points for dot balls and wicket-taking deliveries.

Fair Play Award

The Fair Play Award honors the team with the best on-field conduct. Umpires score each side after every game based on respect, behavior, and sportsmanship.

Scoring Criteria:

• Respect towards opponents and umpires
• Upholding the spirit of the game
• Discipline and decorum on the field

2024 Winner: Sunrisers Hyderabad

Insight for 2025: Franchises are investing in player behaviour coaching, reflecting how seriously they take this award.

Emerging Player of the Season

This award recognises the league’s breakout young performer—usually a domestic uncapped player under 25. Known by different names over the years, it has spotlighted stars like Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant early in their careers.

Previous Names:

• 2008: Best U-19 Player
• 2009-2010: Best U-23 Player
• 2011-2012: Rising Star of the Year
• 2013: Best Young Player
• Since 2014: Emerging Player of the Year

2024 Winner: Nitish Kumar Reddy

Unique Trivia: Mustafizur Rahman remains the only foreigner to win this award.

Maximum Sixes Award

Fun Stat: Chris Gayle still holds the record for the most sixes in a single IPL season (59 in 2012).

2025 Prediction: With flat wickets and short boundaries, expect Andre Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Surya Kumar Yadav, and Nicholas Pooran to be top contenders.

IPL Title Sponsorship Journey: Who Funded Cricket’s Grandest League?

Over the years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has attracted some of the world’s biggest brands for its title sponsorship—a testament to the league’s ever-growing popularity and market value. These sponsorships don’t just reflect commercial success, they also signal the league’s cultural relevance and global footprint.

Title Sponsors Over the Years

A Timeline of IPL Title Sponsorship

• 2008-2012: Real estate giant DLF became the inaugural title sponsor, paying ₹200 crore over five years.
• 2013-2015: PepsiCo came on board, but their ₹397 crore deal ended prematurely in 2015 due to the suspension of CSK and RR.
• 2016-2017: Vivo, the Chinese smartphone brand, filled the gap for two years at ₹100 crore annually.
• 2018-2022: Vivo extended its partnership with a mega ₹2,199 crore deal but exited in 2020 amid the India-China military tensions.
• 2020: Fantasy gaming platform Dream11 stepped in temporarily with a one-season deal worth ₹222 crore.
• 2021: Vivo made a short comeback but eventually exited the deal.
• 2022-2023: Tata Group replaced Vivo, with Tata paying ₹335 crore/year while Vivo covered the deficit.
• 2024-2028: Tata retained the title rights with a record ₹500 crore annual fee.

Unique Insight: With the growing influence of Saudi investment in global sports, Saudi Aramco entered the IPL ecosystem in 2022 by acquiring advertisement rights on the Purple and Orange caps.

IPL Payments to Foreign Boards: The Price of Global Talent

The IPL's reliance on international stars isn’t just limited to auction prices—it also extends to financial agreements with their national boards.

Key Payment Structures: 

• BCCI pays 10% of a foreign player’s auction value to their respective national cricket boards.
• In 2018, the BCCI promised to double this payment for boards that released their players for the full season.

However, in 2022, this model came under fire from the Australian Cricketers’ Association, which felt that national players were being undervalued in international obligations compared to their IPL stints.

IPL Brand Value: The Billion-Dollar League

The IPL isn’t just India’s biggest cricketing property—it’s also one of the richest sports leagues in the world. From 2016 to 2022, the league saw exponential growth in valuation.

IPL Growth in Value

A major contributor to this leap was the Star India TV deal, which introduced regional language broadcasts across eight languages, vastly expanding the IPL’s reach.

Unique Insight: In 2022, the BCCI took out a ₹5,000 crore insurance policy for IPL-related revenue losses, covering stakeholders from broadcasters to sponsors.

Brand Value of IPL Teams (2021–2024) 

Each IPL team is now a standalone business empire. Here's a comparative table highlighting their brand value across four seasons:

New Insight: The franchise valuations have caught the attention of foreign private equity firms. There are talks of minority stake acquisitions by sports investment companies, especially in franchises like the Rajasthan Royals and LSG.

IPL Media Rights: The Billion-Dollar Broadcast War

When it comes to sports broadcasting in India, nothing compares to the IPL. Its media rights auction has shattered records and redefined the economics of sports entertainment.

Media Rights Breakdown (2023-2027 Cycle)

*JioCinema is merged with Disney Hotstar and now its JIO Hotstar and IPL 2025 is telecasted on Jio Hotstar OTT.

This deal made the IPL the second-most expensive sports league globally in terms of per-match broadcast value - just behind the NFL.

Unique Insight: In IPL 2025 Jio Hotstar roll out an enhanced digital viewing experience, including multi-angle replays, fan chat zones, and real-time fantasy integrations on JioHotstar.

IPL Revenue Model

The IPL operates on a revenue-sharing model that ensures both BCCI and the franchises benefit.

Primary Revenue Streams:

• Media Rights Income (shared 50:50 between BCCI and franchises)
• Title & Central Sponsorships
• Franchise Sponsorship Deals
• Matchday Revenues (tickets, merchandise, F&B)
• Licensing & Digital Collaborations

Revenue Split Example (Not Official):

If BCCI earns ₹1,000 crore from media rights in a season:

• ₹500 crore goes to BCCI
• ₹500 crore split equally among 10 teams (₹50 crore each)

Unique Insight: Teams like Mumbai Indians and CSK earn up to 3x more than some newer franchises through local sponsorships, premium merchandise, and legacy fanbases.

Digital Viewership Explosion: IPL Goes Global

The digital consumption of IPL has witnessed explosive growth, especially post-2020. Platforms like Disney Hotstar and JioCinema have revolutionised how fans interact with the game. Now Jio and Disney Hotstar have merged and made a new brand Jio Hotstar.

Key Stats & Trends

• 2023 IPL Final saw over 32 million concurrent viewers on JioCinema
• Regional language streams contributed to 45% of total digital watch time
• Younger viewers (18–34) made up over 60% of the digital audience

New Insight: Expect interactive NFTS, AR filters, and live polls to become part of the IPL 2025 digital experience, blurring the line between sport and technology.

IPL Controversies: Behind the Glamour and Glitz

Here’s a comprehensive look into the biggest IPL controversies that shocked fans and altered the course of the tournament.

IPL Spot-Fixing & Betting Scandals

2012 Spot-Fixing Sting

• Deccan Chargers’ TP Sudhindra received a lifetime ban from the BCCI.
• Four other domestic players were suspended after being caught in a sting by a news channel.
• Pune Warriors’ Mohnish Mishra claimed players were paid in "black money"—a statement he later retracted.
• Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell were detained at a Mumbai rave party and later found to have used banned substances.

2013 Major Fixing Scandal

• Delhi Police arrested Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan, and S. Sreesanth of Rajasthan Royals.
• Chennai Super Kings’ team principal Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI chief N. Srinivasan, was arrested for betting and leaking team information.
• The fallout led to a Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee, which banned CSK and RR for two seasons.

Justice RM Lodha remarked, "Disrepute has been brought to cricket, the BCCI and the IPL to such an extent that there are doubts whether the game is clean or not."

Strategic Timeouts: Tactical Pause or Commercial Play?

Introduced in 2010, these timeouts were initially 7 minutes 50 seconds long and were criticized widely.

Criticism:

• Sachin Tendulkar and other top players called them disruptive.
• Allegations surfaced that the timeouts gave bookies a window to contact players.
• Sunil Gavaskar once said on air, "How many times batsmen get out after a strategic timeout?" highlighting its negative impact on players’ rhythm.

Financial Perspective:

• A 10-second ad slot during a strategic timeout reportedly earns ₹5 lakhs.
• Matches often extend beyond the ideal 3-hour window because of these breaks.

Current Status: Time-out duration has been reduced, but commercial motives keep them intact.

Player Incidents That Made Headlines

The Harbhajan-Sreesanth Slap (2008)

• Post-match, Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth, leading to his suspension for the rest of the season.
• Years later, Harbhajan apologised publicly.

Chahal’s Shocking Revelations (2022)

• Yuzvendra Chahal spoke about two disturbing incidents:

• One involved being hung from a 15th-floor balcony by a drunk teammate in 2013.
• Another had him tied and gagged overnight by teammates, including Andrew Symonds.
  • Cricketing legends like Sehwag and Shastri urged Chahal to name the culprits and called for bans.

Ravindra Jadeja's One-Year Ban (2010)

• Violated IPL contract rules by attempting backdoor negotiations with other franchises.

Franchise Ownership Disputes

Rajasthan Royals Mystery Ownership (2010)

• Then BCCI president Shashank Manohar publicly admitted that the IPL GC did not know who owned RR and PBKS.
• RR's bid was placed by Manoj Bhandale; later, offshore entities were added.
• Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta were found to have violated the shareholder agreement.

1. Srinivasan’s Conflict of Interest

• Leaked emails revealed Lalit Modi allegedly helped Srinivasan acquire Andrew Flintoff for CSK.
• Srinivasan, while BCCI president, owned CSK—a conflict of interest criticised by the Supreme Court.
• Despite the Lodha Committee’s ban on CSK (2016–17), Srinivasan still owns the franchise, now represented by his daughter Rupa Gurunath.

International Friction & IPL Politics

Australian Players vs. Cricket Australia

• Disputes arose over a BCCI practice of giving 10% of foreign players’ salaries to their national boards.
• The Australian Cricketers’ Association opposed the revenue-sharing model.

Shashi Tharoor–Sunanda Pushkar Equity Controversy (2010)

• Then, the IPL President revealed Sunanda Pushkar held ₹70 Cr worth of sweat equity in Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
• The opposition BJP called it corruption; Tharoor resigned as Minister following public backlash.

Slow Over-Rate Fines

• Captains including Rishabh Pant (DC) and Shubman Gill (GT) were fined ₹12 lakh each in IPL 2024.
• Fans and former cricketers criticize slow over-rates for delaying match endings beyond 4 hours.

Exclusion of Pakistani Players

• Post the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, no Pakistani players were picked in IPL 2009.
• IPL franchises avoided signing Pakistani cricketers amid growing diplomatic tensions.
• Imran Khan called out BCCI’s "arrogance"; Pakistan players expressed disappointment over exclusion.

IPL 2025 and Bangladesh Boycott

During the 2025 IPL Auction in Jeddah, 12 out of 13 registered Bangladeshi players went unsold.

Aftermath:

• Bangladeshi fans accused IPL franchises of discrimination.
• Indian fans defended the move, citing religious and political unrest in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina's resignation in August 2024.