The IPL was inaugurated in 2008, in the midst of the period during which the Indian Cricket League was operational. Until 2012, the Indian Premier League was sponsored by DLF after they paid $50 million for a five-year sponsorship of the competition. Pepsi took over the contract for the 2013 IPL season after paying close to $72 million for the 5-year contract. In 2008, Sony paid $1 billion for the broadcasting rights over a ten-year period. The IPL is watched globally, and in 2010 made history by becoming the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube.
First season
The first season of IPL was sponsored by DLF. The inaugural season of the tournament took place from 18 April – 1 June 2008. The group stages featured eight teams playing against each other, twice at home and once away basis, with the top four progressing to the semi-finals.
The final was played in DY Patil Stadium, Nerul, Navi Mumbai. The first winner of the tournament was Rajasthan Royals, who beat Chennai Super Kings in a close encounter match that went down to the last ball. Rajasthan Royals’ Shane Watson was named player of the tournament.
Second season
The 2009 Indian Premier League season, also known as IPL 2, was hosted in South Africa because of the general elections in India and was played for 37 days from 18 April – 24 May 2009. Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final to take the title (these two were placed 8th and 7th respectively in the standings of previous season).
Third season
The third season returned to India and it was the first IPL tournament that was broadcast live on YouTube. The final four matches of the tournament were screened in 3D across theatres in India. The Chennai Super Kings defeated the Mumbai Indians in the finals to win their first title.
Fourth season
In 2011, two new teams, Pune Warriors India (PWI) from Pune and Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) from Kochi made their debut in IPL 4. However, the bid for the Kochi franchise turned controversial resulting in the resignation of minister, Shashi Tharoor from the Central Government. Later Lalit Modi was also removed from IPL chairmanship by BCCI. On 5 December 2010, it was confirmed that Kochi will take part in the fourth season of IPL.
With the addition of 2 teams, namely Sahara’s Pune Warriors India and the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, the number of franchises increased from 8 to 10. The format was changed to each team playing 5 other teams in a home-away format. Of the remaining, a team would play 2 at home and 2 away matches. Thus each team played a total of 14 matches. The season ran from 8 April to 28 May 2011.
The IPL was scheduled just 7 days after India Won the Historic 2011 Cricket World Cup on April 1, 2011 . The Chennai Super Kings won their second consecutive title after defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 58 runs in the final.
The Kochi Tuskers Kerala withdrew at the end of this IPL season.
Fifth season
The fifth season featured nine teams after the termination of the Kochi franchise. The auction of the players was held on 4 February 2012. Maximum number of players in each squad was increased from 30 to 33. A total of 76 matches were played from 4 April to 27 May. The Delhi Daredevils, the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings qualified for the playoffs. The final was hosted by Chennai on 27 May, where the Chennai Super Kings played against the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by 5 wickets.
This edition of the IPL was the most competitive with 14 matches producing results in the very last over, and a couple in the last ball. Towards the end of the league, it encountered many hurdles including a spot fixing case, which allegedly included five players caught on a sting operation carried by a news channel.
Sixth season
Pepsi replaced DLF as the title sponsor. Nine teams have participated in the sixth season. The sixth season took place 3 April – 26 May 2013. Deccan Chargers franchise was terminated by the IPL governing council which was later replaced by Sunrisers Hyderabad owned by Sun Group.
Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad were the four teams in the league stage to qualify for the playoffs. Rajasthan Royals defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 4 wickets in the eliminator played at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi. Mumbai Indians defeated Rajasthan Royals in the second qualifier and faced Chennai Super Kings in the Final. Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs for their first title win. Shane Watson was named man of the tournament. Sachin Tendulkar announced Retirement from IPL after Mumbai Indians Won the tournament
Pune Warriors India team was dissolved on the same day.
Seventh season
The league ran 16 April – 1 June 2014 and due to security demands for the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections the early matches were played in the UAE, before the seventh edition of Indian Premier League returned to India for the remainder of the tournament. As Pune Warriors India had been dissolved, this left 8 team participating in the 2014 season.
The auction of players for the seventh season of IPL took place on 13 and 15 February 2014 in Bangalore. For the second time after 2011 IPL teams were allowed to retain up to 5 players. 7 teams retained at least 2 players from the previous squad.
Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians were the four teams that made it to the playoffs. Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Kings XI Punjab by 28 runs in first qualifier to reach the final. Chennai Super Kings faced Kings XI Punjab in the second qualifier after defeating Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets in the eliminator, Kings XI Punjab defeated them by 24 runs to reach the finals. In the finals held on 1 June,Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by 3 wickets, to become the winner of IPL 2014, their second IPL victory. The Orange cap was won by Kolkata Knight Riders’s Robin Uthappa & the Purple cap was won by Chennai Super King’s Mohit Sharma. Glenn Maxwell was named Man of the Tournament. This was the first IPL tournament where the winner of the Orange cap represented the team winning the tournament.
Eighth season
The eighth season is scheduled to start on 8 April 2015 and run till 24 May 2015. There has been a fresh auction of players among teams. This season had to be adjusted around a week late than every year because of the tight scheduling of teams due to the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
