There is never a dull moment for limited overs cricket lovers. The world cup may have ended with disappointment for the Indian fan, but the Indian Premier League is here. The 2015 edition of India’s premier Twenty20 or T20 cricket tournament, that kicks off on April 8 and goes on till May 24, is already in its eighth season.
Eight teams participated in the inaugural season and there are eight teams this time around too, though instead of Deccan Chargers, there is now Sunrisers Hyderabad. Since the IPL brought in a system where players were bought from all over the world and franchises were formed, each team has a home venue and plays against every other team twice – once at home and once away from home – throughout the season.
After the group stages, the top four teams would play in the two semi-finals, the winners of which would ultimately play the final. The opening match will see the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders take on the Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Here is a look at the eight franchises participating in the eight season of the IPL
City: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Founded: 2008
Owners: India Cements and Narayanaswami Srinivasan, vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements Ltd. In 2015, the franchise was transferred to Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd after the controversial amendment to the BCCI constitution that allowed an official to have commercial interests.
Players/Manager: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of India’s One-Day and T20 sides is also the captain of the Chennai Super Kings. Stephen Fleming, former New Zealand cricketer is the coach. The team boasts of a number of international stars: Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Michael Hussey (Australia), Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith (West Indies), Irfan Pathan and Ravichandran Ashwin (India).
Stadium: Their home matches will be played at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium with a capacity of 37,220.
2014 season: Third
Overall Record:
CSK have won 26 of their 39 matches and have been champions twice – 2010 and 2011 – while being runners up 3 times – 2008, 2012 and 2013 – along with semi-finalists in 2009 and playoffs in 2014.
CSK are the most successful team in IPL history, having made it to the knock-out stages of the IPL in each of the seven previous editions which is twice as many as any other team.
CSK have won 84 T20 matches in all. More than any other T20 team in the world.
CSK have the highest win-loss ratio in the IPL at 1.57, having won 69 and lost 44 matches.
City: New Delhi, India
Founded: 2008
Owners: GMR Group based in Bangalore
Players/Manager: South African Jean-Paul Duminy is the captain for the 2015 season and former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten is the coach. Delhi Daredevils purchased Yuvraj Singh for a record 16 crores. Angela Matthews (Sri Lanka), Albie Morkel, Imran Tahir and Quinton de Kock (South Africa), Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Shami and Manoj Tiwary (India) are some of the international names lining up.
Stadium: The iconic Feroz Shah Kotla with a capacity of 55,000. Since 2013, the Delhi Dearedevils have had a second home venue: Raipur International Cricket Stadium in Raipur with a 50,000 seating capacity.
2014 season: Group stage
Overall record: The best the Delhi Daredevils have done is to reach the semi-finalis in 2008 and 2009 and playoffs in 2012. The Delhi Daredevils have lost more matches than they've won – won 42 and lost 47. In the last two seasons, the Delhi Daredevils have finished last in the group stage. In 2012 they finished first in the group stage.
City: Mohali, Punjab
Founded: 2008
Owners: Jointly owned by Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, businessmen Ness Wadia (Wadia Group), Mohit Burman (Dabur) and Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group).
Players/Manager: Sanjay Bangar is head coach while Australian George Bailey is captain. The Kings X1 Punjab don’t boast of too many international cricketers. Some of their key players are Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, Axar Patel (India), David Miller (South Africa), Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Johnson (Australia).
Stadium: As with Delhi Daredevils, the Kings X1 Punjab also have two stadiums. Their primary home stadium is the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali with a capacity of 40,000. Their secondary home stadium is the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala with a lesser capacity of 25,000.
2014 season: runners-up
Overall record: Besides being runners-up last year and semi-finalists in the inaugural season in 2008, they haven’t made it past the group stage in any other season. They do boast of having the longest winning streak in IPL history. They’ve won 56 matches and lost 50 out of the 106 that they’ve played.
Owners: The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s company Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta (Mehta Group).
Players/Managers: It is captained by Gautam Gambhir. Former Australian cricketer Trevor Bayliss is the coach. Other than Gambhir, the Knight Riders boast of Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan (India), Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Morne Morkel (South Africa), Sunil Naraine (West Indies) and Brad Hogg (Australia).
Stadium: They play at the Eden Gardens, the largest cricket stadium in India by seating capacity. It seats about 66,000 people.
2014 season: Champions
Overall record: They have been champions twice – 2012 and 2014 – and made the playoffs once in 2011. Other than that, they haven’t made it out of the group stage and were the worst team for the first three seasons.
City: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founded: 2008
Owners: Owned by Reliance Industries through its subsidiary IndiaWin Sports.
Players/Managers: They are currently captained by Rohit Sharma and coached by recently-retired Australian batsman Ricky Ponting. They boast of multiple cricketers who can singlehandedly win them matches; Aaron Finch (Australia), Kieron Pollard (West Indies), Corey Anderson (New Zealand), Josh Hazelwood (Australia) and Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka).
Stadium: Their primary home ground is the Wankhede Stadium that seats 35,341 people. Their second home is the Brabourne Stadium with a 30,000 seating capacity.
2014 season: Playoffs
Overall record: They’ve been champions once in 2013 and made the playoffs thrice and been runners up once. They’ve won 63 and lost 46 matches out of a total of 110 matches.
City: Jaipur, Rajasthan
Founded: 2008
Owners: The franchise is currently owned and chaired by Manoj Badale with a host of other investors including Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
Players/Managers: Rajasthan Royals are coached by Paddy Upton and mentored by Rahul Dravid. The other players include; Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Steve Smith (Australia), Tim Southee (New Zealand), Stuart Binny and Dhawal Kulkarni (India).
Stadium: The Rajasthan Royals will be playing their home matches at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai (30,000 capacity) and the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad (54,000 capacity) because their usual home stadium, Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur has been suspended by the BCCI.
2014 season: Group stages
Overall record: They were champions against all odds in the inaugural season but since then have only once made it past the group stage in 2013. They’ve won 53 and lost 47 matches out of a total of 102 matches played.
City: Bengaluru, Karnataka
Founded: 2008
Owners: The team is owned by Vijay Mallya, through his company United Breweries Group.
Players/Managers: The team is captained by one of Indian cricket's biggest names, Virat Kohli, and coached by recently-retired New Zealand spin-bowler Daniel Vettori. They have three of the biggest hitters in cricket today – Virat Kohli (India), Chris Gayle (West Indies) and AB de Villiers (South Africa) – and one of the best bowlers in Mitchell Starc (Australia).
Stadium: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium is their home ground with a capacity of 36,760.
2014 season: Group stages
Overall record: They have been runners-up twice in 2009 and 2011, semi-finalists once in 2010. Otherwise they haven’t made it past the group stages. They’ve won 56 and lost 58 matches out of their 116 total played.
City: Hyderabad, Telangana
Founded: 2013
Owners: Kalanithi Maran of the Sun TV channel Network.
Players/Managers: Former Australian cricket Tom Moody is the head coach and Australian David Warner is the captain. Other players include Shikhar Dhawan (India), Eoin Morgan (England), Moises Henriques (Australia), Dale Steyn (South Africa) and Trent Boult (New Zealand).
Stadium: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Telangana with a 55,000 seating capacity.
2014 season: Group stage
Overall record: In their first season in 2013, they made the playoffs and the season after that they failed to make it past the group stage, finishing sixth out of eight teams. They’ve won 16 and lost 15 out of their 31 matches so far.
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Eight teams participated in the inaugural season and there are eight teams this time around too, though instead of Deccan Chargers, there is now Sunrisers Hyderabad. Since the IPL brought in a system where players were bought from all over the world and franchises were formed, each team has a home venue and plays against every other team twice – once at home and once away from home – throughout the season.
After the group stages, the top four teams would play in the two semi-finals, the winners of which would ultimately play the final. The opening match will see the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders take on the Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Here is a look at the eight franchises participating in the eight season of the IPL
Chennai Super Kings
(Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
City: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Founded: 2008
Owners: India Cements and Narayanaswami Srinivasan, vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements Ltd. In 2015, the franchise was transferred to Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd after the controversial amendment to the BCCI constitution that allowed an official to have commercial interests.
Players/Manager: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of India’s One-Day and T20 sides is also the captain of the Chennai Super Kings. Stephen Fleming, former New Zealand cricketer is the coach. The team boasts of a number of international stars: Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Michael Hussey (Australia), Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith (West Indies), Irfan Pathan and Ravichandran Ashwin (India).
Stadium: Their home matches will be played at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium with a capacity of 37,220.
2014 season: Third
Overall Record:
CSK have won 26 of their 39 matches and have been champions twice – 2010 and 2011 – while being runners up 3 times – 2008, 2012 and 2013 – along with semi-finalists in 2009 and playoffs in 2014.
CSK are the most successful team in IPL history, having made it to the knock-out stages of the IPL in each of the seven previous editions which is twice as many as any other team.
CSK have won 84 T20 matches in all. More than any other T20 team in the world.
CSK have the highest win-loss ratio in the IPL at 1.57, having won 69 and lost 44 matches.
Delhi Daredevils
(Wikimedia Commons)
City: New Delhi, India
Founded: 2008
Owners: GMR Group based in Bangalore
Players/Manager: South African Jean-Paul Duminy is the captain for the 2015 season and former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten is the coach. Delhi Daredevils purchased Yuvraj Singh for a record 16 crores. Angela Matthews (Sri Lanka), Albie Morkel, Imran Tahir and Quinton de Kock (South Africa), Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Shami and Manoj Tiwary (India) are some of the international names lining up.
Stadium: The iconic Feroz Shah Kotla with a capacity of 55,000. Since 2013, the Delhi Dearedevils have had a second home venue: Raipur International Cricket Stadium in Raipur with a 50,000 seating capacity.
2014 season: Group stage
Overall record: The best the Delhi Daredevils have done is to reach the semi-finalis in 2008 and 2009 and playoffs in 2012. The Delhi Daredevils have lost more matches than they've won – won 42 and lost 47. In the last two seasons, the Delhi Daredevils have finished last in the group stage. In 2012 they finished first in the group stage.
Kings XI Punjab
(ipl-8.in)
City: Mohali, Punjab
Founded: 2008
Owners: Jointly owned by Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, businessmen Ness Wadia (Wadia Group), Mohit Burman (Dabur) and Karan Paul (Apeejay Surendera Group).
Players/Manager: Sanjay Bangar is head coach while Australian George Bailey is captain. The Kings X1 Punjab don’t boast of too many international cricketers. Some of their key players are Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha, Axar Patel (India), David Miller (South Africa), Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Johnson (Australia).
Stadium: As with Delhi Daredevils, the Kings X1 Punjab also have two stadiums. Their primary home stadium is the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali with a capacity of 40,000. Their secondary home stadium is the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala with a lesser capacity of 25,000.
2014 season: runners-up
Overall record: Besides being runners-up last year and semi-finalists in the inaugural season in 2008, they haven’t made it past the group stage in any other season. They do boast of having the longest winning streak in IPL history. They’ve won 56 matches and lost 50 out of the 106 that they’ve played.
Kolkata Knight Riders
(Wikimedia Commons)
City: Kolkata, West Bengal
Founded: 2008
Owners: The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s company Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta (Mehta Group).
Players/Managers: It is captained by Gautam Gambhir. Former Australian cricketer Trevor Bayliss is the coach. Other than Gambhir, the Knight Riders boast of Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan (India), Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Morne Morkel (South Africa), Sunil Naraine (West Indies) and Brad Hogg (Australia).
Stadium: They play at the Eden Gardens, the largest cricket stadium in India by seating capacity. It seats about 66,000 people.
2014 season: Champions
Overall record: They have been champions twice – 2012 and 2014 – and made the playoffs once in 2011. Other than that, they haven’t made it out of the group stage and were the worst team for the first three seasons.
Mumbai Indians
(Wikimedia Commons)
City: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founded: 2008
Owners: Owned by Reliance Industries through its subsidiary IndiaWin Sports.
Players/Managers: They are currently captained by Rohit Sharma and coached by recently-retired Australian batsman Ricky Ponting. They boast of multiple cricketers who can singlehandedly win them matches; Aaron Finch (Australia), Kieron Pollard (West Indies), Corey Anderson (New Zealand), Josh Hazelwood (Australia) and Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka).
Stadium: Their primary home ground is the Wankhede Stadium that seats 35,341 people. Their second home is the Brabourne Stadium with a 30,000 seating capacity.
2014 season: Playoffs
Overall record: They’ve been champions once in 2013 and made the playoffs thrice and been runners up once. They’ve won 63 and lost 46 matches out of a total of 110 matches.
Rajasthan Royals
(Wikimedia Commons)
City: Jaipur, Rajasthan
Founded: 2008
Owners: The franchise is currently owned and chaired by Manoj Badale with a host of other investors including Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
Players/Managers: Rajasthan Royals are coached by Paddy Upton and mentored by Rahul Dravid. The other players include; Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Steve Smith (Australia), Tim Southee (New Zealand), Stuart Binny and Dhawal Kulkarni (India).
Stadium: The Rajasthan Royals will be playing their home matches at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai (30,000 capacity) and the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad (54,000 capacity) because their usual home stadium, Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur has been suspended by the BCCI.
2014 season: Group stages
Overall record: They were champions against all odds in the inaugural season but since then have only once made it past the group stage in 2013. They’ve won 53 and lost 47 matches out of a total of 102 matches played.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
(Wikimedia Commons)
City: Bengaluru, Karnataka
Founded: 2008
Owners: The team is owned by Vijay Mallya, through his company United Breweries Group.
Players/Managers: The team is captained by one of Indian cricket's biggest names, Virat Kohli, and coached by recently-retired New Zealand spin-bowler Daniel Vettori. They have three of the biggest hitters in cricket today – Virat Kohli (India), Chris Gayle (West Indies) and AB de Villiers (South Africa) – and one of the best bowlers in Mitchell Starc (Australia).
Stadium: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium is their home ground with a capacity of 36,760.
2014 season: Group stages
Overall record: They have been runners-up twice in 2009 and 2011, semi-finalists once in 2010. Otherwise they haven’t made it past the group stages. They’ve won 56 and lost 58 matches out of their 116 total played.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
(Wikimedia Commons)
City: Hyderabad, Telangana
Founded: 2013
Owners: Kalanithi Maran of the Sun TV channel Network.
Players/Managers: Former Australian cricket Tom Moody is the head coach and Australian David Warner is the captain. Other players include Shikhar Dhawan (India), Eoin Morgan (England), Moises Henriques (Australia), Dale Steyn (South Africa) and Trent Boult (New Zealand).
Stadium: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Telangana with a 55,000 seating capacity.
2014 season: Group stage
Overall record: In their first season in 2013, they made the playoffs and the season after that they failed to make it past the group stage, finishing sixth out of eight teams. They’ve won 16 and lost 15 out of their 31 matches so far.
