On April 30th, the Super Sunday event in IPL 2023 will be even more spectacular, as IPL will complete its 1000th game. The game will take place at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai where Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals will face each other in this iconic match.
The inaugural match of IPL was held on April 18th, 2008, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders. The league has come a long way and now management is organising its 16th edition. Over the past 15 years, IPL has made remarkable progress and transformed the landscape of cricket worldwide.
The media rights of IPL were sold for an astounding INR 48,390 crore by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) in 2022. This deal has made IPL the second most valuable sports league globally after the National Football League (NFL) of the United States.
The growth of IPL has also benefited the players and it has changed the life and lifestyle of many domestic as well as international players. In the inaugural season, MS Dhoni was the most expensive player, being sold for a remarkable $1.5 million. Since then, the players’ salaries have increased and in the 2022 mini-auction, Sam Curran became the most expensive player in IPL history, being purchased for a whopping INR 18.5 crore by Punjab Kings.
IPL has also seen many franchisees throughout the tournament. A time was there when Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Pune Warriors India were also playing in the tournament. When CSK and RR was banned for two years, franchises like Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions entered the tournament. Now the tournament has increased its size from eight number of teams to 10 where Gujarat Titans and Lucknow SuperGiants have knocked the door of this cash-rich league.
Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians holds the record to win the title for maximum give times, whereas the Chennai Super Kings captained by Mahendra Singh has four titles to their name. KKR has lifted the trophy for two times while RR, Decan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad have also won the IPL championship. The newly introduced team, Gujarat Titans won the trophy last year in their inaugural season under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya.