IPL 2022: THE BEGINNING
10 best teams, 74 exciting encounters, 237 talented players and over a billion fans! IPL 2022 is the perfect recipe for a blockbuster.
Inclusion of Two New Franchises:
This year two new teams were added to the league namely Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans. The bidding process was closed one. Any interested party could purchase the bidding papers in the form of ‘Invitation to Tender’ document for Rs. 10 lakh. The BCCI had already nominated six towns as potential sites for the two new teams: Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Cuttack, Guwahati, Ranchi, and Dharamshala. On 25th October 2021 BCCI announced the inclusion of two new franchises:
- RPSG Ventures Ltd. – Lucknow (for INR 7090 crores)
- Irelia Company Pte Ltd. (CVC Capital Partners) – Ahmedabad (for INR 5625 crores)
Retention and Player Auction:
The Mega auction returned after 4 years. The event was even bigger in terms of the number of teams and players and also with no ‘Right to Match’ card. The retention rules seemed fair with the eight original teams given the option of keeping up to four players, with a maximum of two international players and one uncapped player allowed. The number of Indian-capped players that could be retained was limited to three.
The new entrants, Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), were able to choose their three players from the pool of unretained players once the retentions were announced by the eight original teams.
All the teams tried to keep their core intact and retain most of their vintage players. Kings XI Punjab was the team to retain only two players leaving them with the most funds in the pocket for the auction, apart from that all the other teams have retained either three or four players. Below given is the table of retained players:
| Player | Nationality | Salary |
| Chennai Super Kings | ||
| Ravindra Jadeja | India | ₹16 crore (US$2.1 million) |
| MS Dhoni | India | ₹12 crore (US$1.6 million) |
| Moeen Ali | England | ₹8 crore (US$1.0 million) |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | India | ₹6 crore (US$790,000) |
| Delhi Capitals | ||
| Rishabh Pant | India | ₹16 crore (US$2.1 million) |
| Axar Patel | India | ₹9 crore (US$1.2 million)[a] |
| Prithvi Shaw | India | ₹7.5 crore (US$980,000)[b] |
| Anrich Nortje | South Africa | ₹6.5 crore (US$850,000) |
| Gujarat Titans | ||
| Hardik Pandya | India | ₹15 crore (US$2.0 million) |
| Rashid Khan | Afghanistan | ₹15 crore (US$2.0 million) |
| Shubman Gill | India | ₹8 crore (US$1.0 million) |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | ||
| Andre Russell | Jamaica | ₹12 crore (US$1.6 million)[c] |
| Varun Chakravarthy | India | ₹8 crore (US$1.0 million)[d] |
| Venkatesh Iyer | India | ₹8 crore (US$1.0 million) |
| Sunil Narine | Trinidad and Tobago | ₹6 crore (US$790,000) |
| Lucknow Super Giants | ||
| KL Rahul | India | ₹17 crore (US$2.2 million) |
| Marcus Stoinis | Australia | ₹9.2 crore (US$1.2 million) |
| Ravi Bishnoi | India | ₹4 crore (US$520,000) |
| Mumbai Indians | ||
| Rohit Sharma | India | ₹16 crore (US$2.1 million) |
| Jasprit Bumrah | India | ₹12 crore (US$1.6 million) |
| Suryakumar Yadav | India | ₹8 crore (US$1.0 million) |
| Kieron Pollard | Trinidad and Tobago | ₹6 crore (US$790,000) |
| Punjab Kings | ||
| Mayank Agarwal | India | ₹12 crore (US$1.6 million)[e] |
| Arshdeep Singh | India | ₹4 crore (US$520,000) |
| Rajasthan Royals | ||
| Sanju Samson | India | ₹14 crore (US$1.8 million) |
| Jos Buttler | England | ₹10 crore (US$1.3 million) |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | India | ₹4 crore (US$520,000) |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | ||
| Virat Kohli | India | ₹15 crore (US$2.0 million) |
| Glenn Maxwell | Australia | ₹11 crore (US$1.4 million) |
| Mohammed Siraj | India | ₹7 crore (US$920,000) |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | ||
| Kane Williamson | New Zealand | ₹14 crore (US$1.8 million) |
| Abdul Samad | India | ₹4 crore (US$520,000) |
| Umran Malik | India | ₹4 crore (US$520,000) |
Then on 12-13th February, 2022 the fierce battle of ‘Mega Auction’ took place in Bengaluru and there were some unexpected moments. While certain well-known cricketers, including Shreyas Iyer, Harshal Patel, and David Warner, sparked heated bidding wars on the opening day of the auctions, several other well-known cricketers failed to draw bidders. They are, however, expected to be chosen in Sunday’s hurried round of bidding. All the eight earlier teams tried to buy back as many of their earlier players and also purchased new ones to strike a balance. The two newcomers also made a few good choices, Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis, Ayush Badoni for SuperGiants and David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami for Titans to name a few.
The Mumbai Indians won a bidding war to get Kishan back, and paid a hefty Rs 15.25 crore for him. Shreyas Iyer was the first player to break the Rs 10 crore milestone, having been purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 12.25 crore. Royal Challengers Bangalore later purchased Patel for Rs 10.75 crore and returned Hasaranga for the same sum. Deepak Chahar, a former player of Chennai Super Kings, was also bought back for Rs 14 crore, making him the second most expensive purchase at the 2022 auction.
To everyone’s surprise, many prime players such as Suresh Kumar Raina, Steve Smith, Shakib Al Hasan, Adil Usman Rashid, Mohammad Imran Tahir, Mujeeb Ur Rahman Zadran, Adam Zampa missed out on a contract at the auctions.
On Day 2, all-rounder Raj Angad Bawa, Rajvardhan Hanagargekar, and U-19 skipper Yash Dhull, three India U19 World Cup-winning youngsters, found buyers.
Schedule and Points table
IPL 15 is scheduled to begin on March 26, 2022, and end on May 29, 2022. For more information, see the IPL Schedule 2022, Match Dates & Fixtures, and Teams, here. IPL has been played in the UAE for the past two years owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, but it has recently returned to India.
All ten teams will play a total of 14 league games (7 at home and 7 away), for a total of 70 league games, followed by the four playoff games. Five teams will be played twice by each side, while the remaining four teams will only be played once (2 only home and 2 only away).
The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will hold 20 games, while the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai will host 15 games. Meanwhile, Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium will hold 20 matches, while Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium will host 15. The BCCI has still to finalise the locations for the three playoffs and the final, although it is expected to take place at the historic Narendra Modi Stadium.
IPL 2022 Group A Teams
Mumbai India, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Rajasthan, Delhi Capitals, and Lucknow Super Giants are the teams in Group A of the Indian Premier League 2022. Each team Un Group A will play two matches with each of the four teams i.e. 8 matches in group A. Two matches will be played between Group A and Group B teams, who will be in the same row(2 matches) and one match with the remaining four teams in Group B(4 matches) i.e. 6 matches in group B, making the total of 14 matches per team.
IPL 2022 Group B Teams
Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, and Gujarat Titans are the teams in Group B of the Indian Premier League 2022. Each team In Group B will play two matches with each of the four teams i.e. 8 matches in group B. Two matches will be played between Group B and Group A teams, who will be in the same row(2 matches) and one match with the remaining four teams in Group B(4 matches) i.e. 6 matches in group A, making the total of 14 matches per team.
Planning by authorities and practice matches
All IPL teams began practicing in Mumbai from March 14 to 15. A total of five practice locations were listed. The Mumbai Cricket Association(MCA) facility in Bandra Kurla Complex, the MCA ground in Thane, the Dr. DY Patil University ground and a football pitch, as well as the CCI and the Reliance Corporate Park area in Ghansoli, were nominated. On March 8, the majority of the players arrived in the city.
On March 2, 2022, the Maharashtra government met in South Mumbai with the BCCI and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to discuss how to manage the IPL as a 10-team competition smoothly. Aaditya Thackeray gave this news by his tweet:
The league matches so far
IPL 15 began on March 26, 2022. The league is back in full swing, bringing with it all of the drama and entertainment that it has delivered to cricket fans across the world over the years.
After the 2011 season, ten teams returned to play in the league. Two new teams, the Lucknow SuperGiants (LSG) and Gujarat Titans (GT), made their championship debuts under the leadership of skippers KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the defending champions, are off to their worst start in IPL history. Ravindra Jadeja’s squad has lost all four games for the first time in the team’s history.
The Mumbai Indians (MI) yet again lost their first game to start the new season, extending their losing streak to 10 seasons. MI has also lost all four matches. The new tagline for IPL 15,”Yeh Ab Normal Hai!” is apt for Mumbai fans now. Of late the team has a reputation for bouncing back late in the league.
The chronic underachievers, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), have won three matches in a row after losing their first game, putting them in the 3rd position. The ten-crore all-rounder, Wanindu Hasaranga has performed well for his team. The 2008 champions, Rajasthan Royals (RR), began their season with a victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Jos Buttler currently has the orange cap with 205 runs in three matches, also scoring the first ton of the season. Sanju Samson would be happy with his squad after winning two of three matches. Struggle for SRH ended in their third match, which helped them to jump up to 8th position from 1oth.
KKR are at the top of the table. With 6-point lead in the standings, after winning three of their first three games, ahead of Gujarat Titans(GT) due to higher net-run rate. Umesh Yadav seems at his best this IPL and currently has the purple cap with 8 wickets. Hardik Pandya’s stars have really shined to give him three close wins. Lucknow Super Giants are giving a tough competition to other teams after their first match loss to GT.
The Delhi Capitals (DC) will need to gear up. For Punjab Kings (PBKS) this season it has been a mixed bag, with two wins and two losses.
18 matches have been played so far. It is expected to get more intense as the league stage progresses.IPL is a long league. One never knows how the events will turn out. So stay tuned!
Why IPL is so successful?
The Indian Premier League is the fourth most profitable professional sports league in the world with a profit of over $7 billion every year. I believe it is because of the quality of players, and to an extent is that it is true because Indian players cannot be found playing in other foreign leagues. Some say that it is the amount of salary paid to the players and the bidders forbid such a high amount. Or the sponsors pay a lot of money to BCCI. Well I believe these are all causes. And the real cause behind is the sheer amount of people watching the league that is over 1 billion Indians. Yes it is us Indians who ultimately pay for the league and make it a huge success, by buying subscriptions, match tickets and the products of the sponsors.
The Indian Premier League has been a driving force for the sport in the country, giving players a platform to support and develop their game for over a decade now. Hopefully IPL 2022 will take this further.
-Paras Madhuram Jasrasaria
SY BSc