Countries India First tournament 2008 Next tournament 2017 | Format Twenty20 Last tournament 2016 | |
Administrator IPL Governing Council, BCCI | ||
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a domestic, annual Twenty20 cricket tournament in India, organized by the IPL Governing Council, under the aegis of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It is the most watched Twenty20 tournament and the second-best paying sporting league globally. IPL was established in 2008 and currently consists of eight teams in eight cities across India. The inaugural IPL season was won by Rajasthan Royals. As of December 2016, there have been nine seasons of the IPL tournament, with the latest IPL season conducted from April to May 2016, which was won by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The IPL tournament involves each team playing every other team twice in a home-and-away, double round-robin format. At the conclusion of the double round-robin league, the top four teams on the basis of aggregate points qualify for the playoffs. In this stage, the top two teams compete with each other (in a match titled "Qualifier 1"), as do the remaining two teams (in a match titled "Eliminator"). While the winner of Qualifier 1 directly qualifies for the final match, the losing team gets another chance to qualify for the final match by playing the winning team of the Eliminator match; this match is titled Qualifier 2. The winner of this subsequent Qualifier 2 match moves onto the final match. The team that wins the final match is crowned the Indian Premier League champion.
Altogether, thirteen teams have played in the past nine seasons of the IPL tournament. Of these, five teams are no longer a part of the tournament. In 2011, BCCI terminated the franchise of Kochi Tuskers Kerala for contractual breach. Similarly, BCCI terminated the franchise of Deccan Chargers in 2012 for backing off from its commitments. In 2013, Pune Warriors India exited IPL after it had a franchise valuation disagreement with BCCI. Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended in 2015 following a betting controversy. Currently, the tournament features eight teams, including Delhi Daredevils, Gujarat Lions, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Rising Pune Supergiants, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and former team Chennai Super Kings are jointly the most successful teams in league history, with each having won two titles. Former teams Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers and current champions Sunrisers Hyderabad are the only other teams to have won the tournament title as of December 2016.