2008 Indian Premier League

Infobox cricket tournament
name = 2008 Indian Premier League


imagesize = 200px
caption = Logo of the 2008 DLF Indian Premier League
administrator = BCCI
cricket format = Twenty20
tournament format = Double round-robin and Knockout
host = cr|India
champions = Cr-IPL|raja|R
count = 1st
participants = 8
matches = 59
attendance =
player of the series = flagicon|Australia Shane Watson (472 runs and 17 wickets)
most runs = flagicon|Australia Shaun Marsh (616)
most wickets = flagicon|Pakistan Sohail Tanvir (22)
website = [http://www.iplt20.com/ www.iplt20.com]

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 the 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. [cite web
title= Indian Premier League 2007/08 Fixtures
url= http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/series/313494.html?template=schedule
publisher= Cricinfo] In a match which went down to the last ball, Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final to win the title, [cite news
title= Rajasthan Royals are IPL champions
url= http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3091229.cms
publisher= The Times of India
date= 2008-06-02
accessdate=2008-06-02] with Yusuf Pathan named the player of the match and Shane Watson adjudged the player of the tournament. [cite news
title= Congratulate Rajasthan Royals
url= http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3091309.cms
publisher= The Times of India
date= 2008-06-02
accessdate=2008-06-02] 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 Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings.

Rules and Regulations

Points in the group stage were awarded as follows:

-style="font-size: 75%; text-align:left;"
style="width:1.7em" |
style="width:35em" |Note: Results listed are according to the home and visitor teams. Note: Click on the results to see match summary.|:

[http://stats.cricinfo.com/ipl/engine/records/batting/most_runs_career.html?id=3519;type=tournament Full Table on Cricinfo]

Best Batting Strike Rate

:Minimum 150 runs scored, minimum 7 innings played:

[http://stats.cricinfo.com/ipl/engine/records/bowling/most_wickets_career.html?id=3519;type=tournament Full Table on cricinfo]

:

Note: Economy rate acts as a tie-breaker if players are level for most wickets.

Best Economy

:Minimum 20 overs bowled:

[http://stats.cricinfo.com/ipl/engine/records/bowling/best_career_economy_rate.html?id=3519;type=tournament Full (unfiltered) Economy Table on cricinfo]

Controversies

The BCCI had found itself in the middle of many conflicts with various cricket boards around the world as a result of the IPL. The main point of contention was that signed players should always be available to their country for international tours, even if it overlaps with the IPL season. To address this, the BCCI officially requested that the ICC institute a time period in the International Future Tours Program solely for the IPL season. This request was not granted at a subsequent meeting held by the ICC. [cite web|title=ICC approval for IPL, no backing for ICL|url=http://cricket.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2879082.cms
publisher=IndiaTimes Cricket/PTI]

Conflicts with the England and Wales Cricket Board

Because the inaugural IPL season coincided with the County Championship season as well as New Zealand's tour of England, the ECB and county cricket clubs raised their concerns to the BCCI over players. The ECB made it abundantly clear that they would not sign No Objection Certificates for players—a prerequisite for playing in the IPL. Chairmen of the county clubs also made it clear that players contracted to them were required to fulfil their commitment to their county. As a result of this, Dimitri Mascarenhas was the only English player to have signed with the IPL for the 2008 season. [cite web|title=Dimitri Mascarenhas signs for Indian Premier League |url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/2008/03/12/dimitri-mascarenhas-signs-for-indian-premier-league-89520-20348389/
publisher=Mirror.co.uk]

Another result of the ECB’s on-going fear of players fleeing to the IPL was a proposed radical response of creating their own Twenty20 tournament that would be similar in structure to the IPL. The league — titled the English Premier League — would feature 21 teams in three groups of seven and would occur towards the end of the summer season. [cite news| title=Lord's and The Oval may host IPL exhibition games| url=http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/story/344424.html| publisher=Cricinfo|date=2008-03-29
accessdate=2008-04-12] The ECB enlisted the aid of Texas billionaire Allen Stanford to launch the proposed league. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/7347190.stm BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | ECB set to accept big-money match ] ] Stanford was the brains behind the successful Stanford 20/20, a tournament that has run twice in the West Indies.

Conflicts with Cricket Australia

The BCCI also experienced run-ins with Cricket Australia (CA) over player availability for Australia’s tour of the West Indies and CA’s desire for global protection of their sponsors. CA had feared that sponsors of the IPL (and its teams) that directly competed with their sponsors would jeopardize already existing arrangements. This issue was eventually resolved [cite news|title=Cricket Australia under thumb| url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23189909-23212,00.html|publisher= Fox Sports| date=2008-02-10|accessdate=2008-04-12] and it was also agreed upon that Australian players would be fully available for the West Indies tour.

Conflicts with the Pakistan Cricket Board

Many players from the Pakistan Cricket Team who were not offered renewed central contracts (or decided to reject new contracts) decided to join the rival Indian Cricket League. Two such players—Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed also held contracts with English Counties. The PCB decided to issue No Objection Certificates for these players to play with their county teams on the basis that since they were no longer contracted to the PCB, there was no point in not granting them their NOCs. The latter did not sit well with the BCCI, as it went against the hard line stance they had taken on players who joined the ICL.

Conflicts with other Boards

Smaller boards like the WICB and NZCB have raised concerns over the impact the IPL will have on their player development and already fragile financial situation. Since players from smaller cricketing nations are not compensated as much, they have more motivation to join the IPL.

Media restrictions

Initially the IPL enforced strict guidelines to media covering Premier League matches, consistent with their desire to use the same model sports leagues in North America use in regards to media coverage. Notable guidelines imposed included the restriction to use images taken during the event unless purchased from [http://photos.cricket.com/ cricket.com] , owned by Live Current Media Inc (who won the rights to such images) and the prohibition of live coverage from the cricket grounds. Media agencies also had to agree to upload all images taken at IPL matches to the official website. This was deemed unacceptable by print media around the world. Upon the threat of boycott, the IPL eased up on several of the restrictions. [cite news|title=Modi climbs down on IPL media guidelines issue|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/13/stories/2008041360150100.htm|publisher=The Hindu|date= 2008-04-13|accessdate=2008-05-26] On April 15, 2008 a revised set of guidelines offering major concessions to the print media and agencies was issued by the IPL and accepted by the Indian Newspaper Society. [cite news|title=IPL sorts out issues with media|url=http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/IPL_sorts_out_issues_with_media/articleshow/2954338.cms|publisher=The Times of India|date= 2008-04-15|accessdate=2008-05-26]

Even with the amended restrictions, specialist cricket websites such as Cricinfo and cricket365 continued to be banned from providing live coverage from the grounds and from purchasing match images from press agencies. As a result, on 18 April several major international agencies including Reuters and AFP announced their decision to provide no coverage of the IPL. [cite news|title=World news agencies to shun IPL due to curbs|url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hyZhQPLagSrr820vmH0xSeykWASg|publisher AFP|date=2008-04-18]

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. [cite web | url = http://in.news.yahoo.com/indiaabroad/20080424/r_t_ians_nl_general/tnl-ipl-cheergirls-face-ban-in-maharasht-b9e311f_1.html | title = IPL cheergirls face ban in Maharashtra | accessdate = 2008-04-27] 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". [citenews|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080520/jsp/frontpage/story_9295090.jsp|title=‘Colour of skin’ comes into play ‘Dark’ girls told to leave|publisher=The Telegraph|date=2008-05-20| accessdate=2008-05-20] Both the girls also allege that an employee referred to them with the racial slur ″nigger″. [citenews|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080523/jsp/frontpage/story_9309638.jsp|title=Cheerleaders called ‘niggers’ - Details of racial abuse at Mohali match out in the open|publisher=The Telegraph|date=2008-05-21|accessdate=2008-05-21]

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. [ [http://www.gulfnews.com/sport/Cricket/10215758.html Cheerleader claims racist slur at IPL match] ]

Sreesanth - Harbhajan Singh altercation

On April 25, 2008, following the King's XI Punjab (KXIP)'s victory in the Indian Premier League over the Mumbai Indians at Mohali, KXIP player Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was slapped under his eye by Harbhajan Singh, the stand-in captain of Mumbai Indians. 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. [cite news| title = Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians| url=http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ipl/engine/current/match/335991.html| publisher = Cricinfo| date = 2008-04-24| accessdate = 2008-04-25] [cite news| title = Bhajji slaps, Sree sobs | url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080426/jsp/frontpage/story_9191426.jsp| publisher = telegraphindia| date = 2008-04-24| accessdate = 2008-04-25] [cite news| title = Bhajji 'slaps' Sreesanth, makes him cry | url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bhajji_slaps_Sreesanth_makes_him_cry/articleshow/2983882.cms| publisher = timesofindia| date = 2008-04-24| accessdate = 2008-04-25] [cite news| title = Match results - Indian Premier League, 2007/08 | url = http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ipl/engine/series/313494.html| publisher = Cricinfo| date = 2008-04-24| accessdate = 2008-04-25]

References

External links

* [http://iplt20.com/ Official IPL Website]
* [http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/current/series/313494.html Cricinfo - Indian Premier League]