The IPL will start on April 9, 2021, and the first match between Mumbai Indian (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at 7:30 pm.

Introduction – It is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in which Indian and foreign cricketers participate in this tournament. There are 8 teams that contested and based out in eight different cities or states. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was founded IPL in the year 2007 and was generally held between April and May every year.

The IPL became the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube all over the world in the year 2010. According to Duff & Phelps, the brand value of the IPL was about ₹475 billion (US$6.7 billion) in the year 2019. IPL season 2015 contributed ₹11.5 billion (US$160 million) to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Indian economy.

History – The BCCI declared the launch of a franchise-based Twenty20 cricket competition known as the Indian Premier League on September 13, 2007. The first season of IPL was started in April 2008 with a great ceremony in New Delhi. Before IPL’s first season in 2008, an auction was held on January 24, 2008, to decide the owners for the new league and the total base prices of the franchises costing about $400 million.  After an auction, the name of the teams was declared in the name of different cities or states such as Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Punjab, and Rajasthan. After that, IPL’s first season started in April 2008.

Format of the tournament – Now, there are eight teams are participated in IPL in which each team plays each other twice. The top 4 teams will qualify for the playoffs in which the top 2 teams with maximum points will play against each other and the winning team going straight to the final in the first qualifying match. The loser in the first Qualifying match will get another chance to qualify for the IPL final. In the eliminator match, the third and fourth position teams play against each other. If any team lose the match then it will be eliminated from this tournament and winning team reached in the second qualifier. In the second qualifier match, the winning team in the eliminator match will play the loser team from the first qualifier match. After that, the winning team of the second qualifying match will move to the IPL final to play the winning team of the first qualifying match. Finally, the winning team in the IPL final will become the champion of this tournament and will be crowned the Indian Premier League champions.

Tournament seasons and results – Mumbai Indians are one of the most successful teams and have become five-time champions, Chennai Super Kings have won 3 titles, and the Kolkata Knight Riders have won two titles. The other three teams won the tournament such as Sunrisers Hyderabad, Deccan Chargers, and Rajasthan Royals. Now, the current champion of IPL 2020 is the Mumbai Indians that defeated Delhi Capitals by five wickets. The first champion of IPL season 2008 is the Rajasthan Royals that defeated Chennai Super Kings by three wickets.

Awards in IPL – There are some of the awards that are distributed in the IPL season are as given below –

• Purple Cap – This award is given to that bowler who has to get maximin wickets in the whole IPL tournament during a season. Current Winner – Kagiso Rabada (IPL 2020).
• Orange Cap – This award is given to that player who makes the top run-scorer in the whole IPL tournament during a season. Current Winner – K.L.Rahul (IPL 2020)
• Fairplay Award – This award is given to that team with the best record of fair play after each season. Current Winner – Mumbai Indians (IPL 2020)
• Most Valuable Player – This award is also known as ‘’man or player of the tournament” till the IPL 2012 season. In the year 2013, the IPL introduced the Most Valuable Player rating system. Current Winner – Jofra Archer (IPL 2020)
• Most Sixes Award – This award is given to that player who hits the most sixes in the whole IPL season. Current Winner – Ishan Kishan (IPL 2020)
• Player of the match (IPL Final) – This award is given to that cricketer who has great performance in the IPL Final match. Current Winner – Trent Boult (IPL 2020).