Indian Premier League also affectionately, yes affectionately, known as IPL which has changed the very sport as we know it – but what is the history of the IPL?
Where did it all begin? How did this idea come into existence and took the form of this lavish, star-studded event that we see today? Let’s dig in.😃
For those who want to know a little more background, IPL was first kicked off in 2008 as a part of the ICC Future Tours Program. Its roots can be traced back to ICL – The Indian Cricket League!
Not many people would know that almost exactly 12 years before the IPL was launched on September 13, 2007, Lalit Modi had registered a company called the Indian Cricket League Ltd (ICL) with the Registrar of Companies in 1995 with an aim to promote Modi Entertainment Network, which used to distribute the newly-launched sports channel ESPN in the country.
But Modi's ICL never took off - until the ZEE group jolted the BCCI out of its slumber by launching a T20 tournament, ironically by the same name on April 3, 2007.
Modi threatened to take Zee to court for stealing his company's name, but never did. Later with the help of Madhavrao Scindia, Modi was in the forefront launching of IPL and within six months he – through Sharad Pawar's patronage - managed to convince not just Indian officials but almost all the national cricket boards but also International Cricket Council president Ray Mali, to be present at the IPL launch on September 13, 2007, in New Delhi.
At the IPL inaugural function, Pawar heaped praises on Modi, saying "Lalit had worked day and night" to make IPL a reality. Modi was clearly influenced by the unprecedented success of the T20 domestic tournament in England while designing the IPL format! The result: the birth of the franchise- based IPL 20 competition!
Once the IPL took off in April- May 2008 – following the unprecedented players' auction in February - Subhash Chandra's ICL fizzled out and eventually died a natural death a couple of years later, with many players still remaining unpaid.
The BCCI had barred all players, umpires and other officials who were part of the ICL, but announced amnesty for all of them once the ICL closed down and players' made quiet representations to the Board to take them back. Kapil Dev, who had headed the ICL, and Kiran More, who was part of the ICL core committee, are the latest ones to be accepted back in the BCCI fold.⭐️
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