Cricket format Twenty20 Participants 8 Date 2008 Player of the series Shane Watson | Host(s) India Champion Rajasthan Royals Location India Attendance 3,422,000 | |
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Dates 18 April 2008 (2008-04-18) – 1 June 2008 (2008-06-01) Tournament format(s) Double round-robin and knockout Champions Rajasthan Royals (1st title) Administrator Board of Control for Cricket in India Similar 2009 Indian Premier L, 2010 Indian Premier L, 2011 Indian Premier L, 2014 Indian Premier L, 2012 Indian Premier L | ||
The 2008 Indian Premier League season was the debut season of the Indian Premier League, established by the BCCI in 2007. The season commenced on 18 April 2008 with the final match held on 1 June 2008. The competition started with a double round robin group stage, in which each of the 8 teams played a home match and an away match against every other team. These matches were followed by two semi-finals and a final.
Contents
- Player auctions
- Rules and regulations
- Most runs
- Best batting strike rate
- Most wickets
- Best economy
- Man of the Match awards
- Cricinfo IPL XI
- Cheerleaders
- Sreesanth Harbhajan Singh altercation
- References
In a match which went down to the last ball, Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final to win the title, with Yusuf Pathan named the player of the match and Shane Watson adjudged the player of the tournament. Sohail Tanvir won the purple cap for being the top wicket-taking bowler while Shaun Marsh won the orange cap for leading run-scorer in the tournament. Shreevats Goswami was awarded the best under-19 player award and the special award for Fair Play was won by the Chennai Super Kings.
Player auctions
Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were classified as icon players. They will play for the franchises representing their home towns and hence did not enter the auction. Few players were classified as marquee players and the teams which lost out on icon players were allowed one extra marquee player to be selected in the auction. The auctions were conducted on 20 February 2008 with Mahendra Singh Dhoni winning the highest bid of US$1.5 million.
Rules and regulations
Points in the group stage were awarded as follows:
In the event of tied scores after both teams have faced their quota of overs, a bowl-out will determine the winner, even in the group stage.
In the group stage, teams will be ranked on the following criteria:
- Higher number of points
- If equal, higher number of wins
- If still equal, net run rate
- If still equal, lower bowling strike rate
- If still equal, result of head to head meeting.
Most runs
Tournament's leading scorer wore an orange cap when fielding.
Best batting strike rate
Minimum 150 runs scored, minimum 7 innings playedMost wickets
Tournament's leading wicket taker wore a purple cap when fielding.
Best economy
Minimum 20 overs bowledMan of the Match awards
Most MOMs
Cricinfo IPL XI
On 5 June 2008, Cricinfo announced what it referred to as the 'pick of the IPL crop' in its 'short-form all-star XI' for the IPL. The team of the tournament consisted of:
Cheerleaders
The IPL has been criticised by a few politicians and feminists for bringing in foreign cheerleaders, which is seen by many to not be in the traditional spirit of the game, as well as being against some Indian sensibilities. Two cheerleaders from London were asked to leave the ground at Mohali "because of the colour of their skin" by Wizcraft International Entertainment, which handles the team Kings XI Punjab. Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson, both from London and of African ancestry were allegedly barred from entering the stadium by employees of Wizcraft International Entertainment on the pretext that "people don’t like dark girls here". Both the girls also allege that an employee referred to them with the racial slur ″nigger″.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said a probe would be initiated by the IPL only if the two women officially complain to IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
BCCI and IPL officials are surprised that the two cheerleaders did not complain about the alleged racist behaviour while they were in India and spoke about it only after they returned to London.
"We have not received any complaint from any cheerleaders that they were asked to leave by the Mohali-based Kings XI Punjab franchise recently because of the colour of their skin," BCCI joint secretary M.P. Pandove said in Mohali.
Sreesanth – Harbhajan Singh altercation
On 25 April 2008, following the Kings XI Punjab's victory over the Mumbai Indians at Mohali, Punjab player Sreesanth was slapped under his eye by Harbhajan Singh, the stand-in captain of Mumbai. The incident came to light as Sreesanth was caught by TV cameras sobbing inconsolably on the field before the presentation ceremony. Sreesanth had since downplayed the incident saying he had no complaints against Harbhajan who was "like an elder brother" to him. Harbhajan's team had lost their third consecutive match when he apparently reacted violently to Sreesanth's approaching him and reportedly saying "hard luck". The footage of the slap has not yet been released for public viewing. The BCCI launched an investigation into the incident and decided to ban Harbhajan for the remainder 11 matches of the Twenty20 tournament.