IPL 2008 was the Inaugural season of Indian Premier League which is a T-20 cricketing competition created by the BCCI and chaired by Mr. Lalit Modi. The first season of the IPL2008 commenced on 18 April 2008, and ended on 1 June 2008 and as expected turned out to be a grand success, IPL 2008 was followed by another season called as the DLF IPL 2009. Before it could start it almost got cancelled, Indian Premier League 2009 was clashing with the Indian elections and providing adequate security for DLF IPL2009 and the elections was an issue. After a lot of speculation and counter arguments, The Government refused to provide security for the 2nd season of IPL or Indian Premier League 2009 as providing adequate security for the elections and IPL Teams at the same time was not possible. As a result, BCCI took the decision to shift the Indian Premier League 2009 outside India. There were 2 options available to them either to organize in England or in South Africa. IPL governing body made the official announcement to host DLF IPL 2009 in South Africa on 24 March 2009. The Indian Premier League 2009 was the second biggest cricket tournament in the world, after the cricket world cup, which had an estimated television audience of more than 200 million people in India alone. Though India did not host the Indian Premier League 2009, the format of DLF IPL 2009 remained same as in IPL 2008 even though IPL 2009 did not take place in India.
The DLF IPL 2009 started with a Double Round Robin format, in which a total of 8 teams participated every season. There was a huge bidding that took place in Feb 2008 for the first season of IPL 2008 which commenced on the 18th of April 2008 with a grand opening ceremony at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The mission was accomplished and the stage was set for an amazing roller coaster ride for the season of IPL 2008.The 1st season finished with the victory of the Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in the final in Navi Mumbai on 1st June 2008. There were some changes made in DLF IPL 2009 regarding the re-signing of players, no. of international players that a team can have etc. as some players retired after IPL 2008.
Even after many changes The DLF IPL 2009 was the eventual winner, Shifting the tournament to South Africa turned out to be a good decision. IPL 2009 was applauded for globalizing Cricket in a huge way and was without doubt a big success. Deccan Chargers were declared the winners of The Indian Premier League 2009 while the Bangalore Royal Challengers was declared as runner up.
|
