48 Fun Facts About Indian Premier League

Which governing body organises the IPL?

BCCI: in May 2025 the board suspended the league for a week as military tensions escalated between India and Pakistan.

Which format is played in the IPL?

Each side gets 20 overs, which keeps a match to roughly three hours and fits the league into a March-to-May window.

Who became the first to take 200 IPL wickets?

Yuzvendra Chahal had played chess for India as a junior, but gave the game up when he could not find sponsors.

Which wicketkeeper became the costliest buy at the 2025 IPL auction?

Rishabh Pant went for ₹27 crore after Lucknow Super Giants raised their bid from ₹20.75 crore when his old team used a Right to Match card.

Which team won the inaugural IPL season in 2008?

Rajasthan Royals had been the cheapest of the eight founding franchises, bought for $67 million, yet they won the title.

Which Australian leg-spinner captained the 2008 IPL champions?

Shane Warne had retired from international cricket after the 2006–07 Ashes, more than a year before leading his IPL side to the title.

Which IPL team is co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan?

Kolkata Knight Riders got local hero Sourav Ganguly as its 'icon player', a rule that kept him out of the auction and off every other team.

Which stadium is the home ground of KKR?

Eden Gardens: at the 1996 World Cup semi-final, crowd trouble as India collapsed stopped play, and the match was awarded to Sri Lanka.

Which franchise finished bottom of the first IPL season in 2008, then won the title the very next year?

Deccan Chargers turned last place into the 2009 title, but the franchise was terminated in 2012 amid its owner's financial problems.

By the end of the 2026 season, who was the IPL's all-time leading run-scorer?

Virat Kohli was the only player his team retained from its earlier squads before the 2011 auction.

Which franchise won its first IPL title only in 2025, after three losing finals?

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's title celebrations turned to tragedy the next day, when a crowd crush outside their home stadium killed 11 people.

Which Australian fast bowler became the IPL's most expensive player at the December 2023 auction, at ₹24.75 crore?

Mitchell Starc's record lasted less than a year: two Indian batters passed it at the next auction, in November 2024.

Which conglomerate owns the Mumbai Indians?

Reliance Industries later spread the Mumbai Indians name to sister teams in other T20 leagues, including America's Major League Cricket.

Which ground is the primary home of the Mumbai Indians?

Wankhede Stadium was built after Mumbai's cricket association fell out over ticketing with the Cricket Club of India, owner of Brabourne Stadium.

Which company was the IPL's first title sponsor?

DLF did not renew the deal in 2012, reportedly because a property slump had left the developer under financial strain.

Which Chinese smartphone brand took over IPL title sponsorship after PepsiCo quit in 2015?

Vivo later pulled out of the 2020 season, amid pandemic losses and anti-China sentiment in India after a border clash.

The 2009 IPL season was relocated to which country?

South Africa: India's government would not commit security forces to the league during the general election.

Due to COVID-19, the 2020 IPL was played in which country?

UAE: it was the league's second stint there, after the opening matches of 2014 moved to the Gulf during India's general election.

The IPL's Orange Cap is awarded to which player each season?

The current leader wears the cap in the field while the season is live, so it can change heads several times.

The IPL's Purple Cap goes to which player each season?

Leading wicket-taker: Harshal Patel moved between teams for years before winning the cap in 2021, and he won it again in 2024.

Who won the IPL's first Orange Cap, awarded at the end of the 2008 season?

Shaun Marsh missed Kings XI Punjab's first four matches, yet signed off the league stage with a century.

By the end of the 2026 season, who had won the IPL's Orange Cap three times?

David Warner won all three for Sunrisers Hyderabad, yet in 2021 the franchise removed him as captain and then dropped him.

Which England batter did Ravichandran Ashwin run out at the non-striker's end in a 2019 IPL match?

Jos Buttler was 'Mankaded' by Ashwin, and in 2022 the MCC moved that dismissal from its unfair play law into the run out law.

By the end of the 2026 season, who was the only overseas player to have won the IPL's Emerging Player award?

Mustafizur Rahman won it in 2016, when his death bowling helped Sunrisers Hyderabad win the title.

By the end of the 2026 season, who had won the IPL Most Valuable Player award a record three times?

Sunil Narine: MVP points count dot balls and wickets as well as fours and sixes, so a spinner who also bats scores both ways.

Who was the most expensive buy at the first IPL player auction in 2008?

MS Dhoni's $1.5 million took almost a third of Chennai's $5 million cap for its whole squad.

Which IPL rule, new in 2023, lets teams bring on a tactical substitute?

Impact Player: critics including Ricky Ponting said it would shrink the role of all-rounders, since teams can pick specialists and swap one in.

Why were CSK and RR suspended for two seasons?

Illegal betting: the Lodha committee also banned CSK official Gurunath Meiyappan and RR co-owner Raj Kundra from cricket for life.

Which two teams replaced the suspended CSK and RR for two seasons?

Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions were refused any extension, so both folded when the suspended sides returned for 2018.

Why was Kochi Tuskers Kerala expelled from the IPL?

Missed bank guarantee: the league cashed the franchise's previous guarantee and terminated its contract in September 2011.

Which franchise won the IPL in its debut season in 2022?

Gujarat Titans reached the final again the next year, and lost it to Chennai Super Kings off the last ball.

Who captained the 2022 IPL champions in their maiden season?

Hardik Pandya was traded back to Mumbai Indians, his old team, in an all-cash deal in November 2023.

Which Bollywood actress is a co-owner of the Punjab Kings?

Preity Zinta's team lost its first two games in 2008, then won five in a row.

Which IPL team played as the Daredevils until 2018?

Delhi Capitals: co-owner Parth Jindal said Delhi is the country's power centre and its capital, so the team took the name.

Which cement company bought the Chennai franchise in 2008?

India Cements later moved the team into a newly formed subsidiary, Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd.

Which Mumbai Indians player was banned in 2008 for slapping an opponent?

Harbhajan Singh pleaded guilty, apologised publicly and was banned from the rest of that IPL season.

In 2010, the IPL became the first sporting event streamed live on which platform?

YouTube: the 2010 deal streamed matches live or near-live worldwide except in the US, reaching countries with no TV coverage.

Who was the IPL's founding commissioner, suspended soon after the 2010 final and later banned for life?

Lalit Modi moved to London a few weeks after his suspension and refused to return to India, citing threats to his life.

Which Indian minister resigned in 2010 over the Kochi Tuskers Kerala franchise?

Shashi Tharoor had mentored the winning bid while his friend Sunanda Pushkar held sweat equity in it; the two married later that year.

Who was the most expensive overseas player at the 2008 IPL auction?

The Australian all-rounder went to the Deccan Chargers, the Hyderabad franchise that won the title a year later.

Who was player of the 2019 IPL final, won by one run?

Jasprit Bumrah got the award, but Lasith Malinga sealed the win by trapping Shardul Thakur lbw off the final ball.

Which broadcaster held the IPL's Indian TV rights for its first ten seasons?

Sony: just a year into the deal, it signed a new and much bigger contract for the rights in 2009.

Which New Zealander won the 2018 IPL Orange Cap while captaining Sunrisers Hyderabad?

Kane Williamson took the captaincy as a stand-in after the regular captain's ball-tampering ban, and led the side to the final.

By the end of the 2026 season, who was the only player named player of the match in two IPL finals?

Krunal Pandya top-scored with 47 in the 2017 final, and Mumbai Indians then defended just 129 to win by one run.

Who was player of the match in the 2008 IPL final?

Yusuf Pathan took three for 22, then survived a dropped catch in the chase and went on to hit 56 off 39 balls.

Which Pakistani bowler won the first Purple Cap in 2008?

Sohail Tanvir also saw his side home in that season's final, hitting the winning runs off the last ball.

Which English all-rounder did CSK make the joint highest-paid player in 2009?

Andrew Flintoff's signing later sparked a 2010 row over claims that the team's owner had been helped to buy him, which he denied.

Which rival 'rebel' competition, launched in 2007, spurred the creation of the IPL?

Indian Cricket League players were banned from official cricket, and after a 2009 amnesty drew them back, the league folded.