History of IPL

The Indian Premier League was up and running from the very first game. The people became aware of the fireworks this tournament had to offer. New Zealand's Brendon McCullum playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore went on to score 158* against the home side. Kolkata Knight Riders scored 222/3 in their 20 overs as they went on to win the match by 140 runs. This game was followed by another high scoring thriller where Australian opener Michael Hussey playing for the Chennai Super Kings scored a century against Kings XI Punjab. CSK scored 240/5 and went on to beat KXIP by 207/4. As expected Rajasthan Royals were beaten comprehensively by Delhi Daredevils. Mumbai Indians suffered a blow before they began their campaign losing Sachin Tendulkar to a finger injury suffered during Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series Finals. As the tournament went ahead, MS Dhoni's leadership came to display as he lead CSK to the top of points table with an under rated side. But the biggest surprise element was Rajasthan Royals comeback after nobody batted an eye to them. Young players like Swapnil Asnodkar & Ravindra Jadeja were the ones to watch out for. Overseas players like Graeme Smith, Shane Watson & Shane Warne were quite consistent to. Pakistani pacer Sohail Tanvir impressed with his bowling skills as he took the best figures in IPL of 6/14. Seasoned campaigners like Yusuf Pathan, Mohammed Kaif & Munaf Patel also brought out their best at critical stages of the tournament. Rajasthan went on to beat CSK in the Finals of the first season mainly due to Yusuf Pathan's knock in the Final. 

The 2nd edition of IPL was held in South Africa due to security concerns in India after terrorist attacks that happened in some parts of Mumbai in November 2008. In this season young players like Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Tirumalaseti Suman and Venugopal Rao under the leadership of Adam Gilchrist showed their potential as they ended up being the Champions of the 2nd season of IPL. Royal Challengers Bangalore's Manish Pandey became the first ever Indian to score a century in IPL in this season itself. Chris Gayle also showed his potential playing for the KKR and proved why he was so highly rated in T20s. The big positive from this season was the amount of crowds that turned up match after match even after the tournament being held outside India. All it showed was the popularity IPL had gained in the first 2 seasons itself!