The 15th Edition of the World’s grand cricket tournament kicks off with many surprises…
Disclaimer: IPL is not just cricket. It is business. It is for entertainment. Entertainment with wholesome money to all. That’s why it makes sense to start with valuations. As per various marketing and brand valuation agencies, the IPL Brand Valuation is in the range of $6.2 to $6.5 billion, which is close to 47,500 crore Indian rupees. With a new five-year broadcasting rights contract and the 10 team edition, the IPL Brand valuation will jump above 60,000 crores this year.
A new year, a new edition and new teams. Everything seems new about this edition’s IPL which is the 15th edition of India’s glamorous cricket league. Starting in the year 2008 after India’s 2007 T20 World Cup triumph, IPL never looked back. There were changes in the management. It has been a roller coaster ride for the organisers due to match-fixing issues and the banning of two teams. Pandemic tried to play spoilsport in the two editions of the IPL, still, things didn’t go out of control. BCCI was somehow able to successfully finish the tournament without losing much revenue. Of the last three editions including this one, IPL 2022 seems to be the most profitable both for fans and the BCCI.
Indian Premier League 2022 has begun last Saturday. Like always, all the cricketing fans are excited to witness their favourite players and teams. But this time, there have been some really interesting changes. First, all is the new roster for teams after the mega auction in February. Not just the players, two new franchises are added to the IPL. Now we have 10 teams, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants are the two new teams. With the addition of these two teams, the dynamics are changing. The number of matches has increased from 60 to 74 matches. That’s an increase of 7-10 more days of IPL action in the Summer of 2022. BCCI has properly worked out the plans to earn back whatever was lost in the last two editions due to shifting and date changes.
New rules and new format for the IPL 2022
New Format: As said earlier, in the previous editions, IPL had a maximum of 60 games between 8 teams. But now things will change, the number of games is going upwards to 74. Unlike the previous editions, the teams will be divided into two groups. Each group will have five teams. These groups are only virtual and there is no separate points table. This is only done to keep the number of matches per team at 14. Following are the groups:
Group A: Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants
Group B: Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans
New Rules: There are interesting rule changes from this edition of IPL.
- Till last year’s IPL, each team was awarded one DRS, from now, each team will be given two DRS referrals per innings.
- BCCI has decided to be sensitive toward COVID19 cases. Thus, if any teams fail to field a team of XI on any match day, the BCCI will attempt to reschedule the match. There won’t be any forfeiture till the BCCI decides and if it’s forfeited then the opponent team will be awarded the 2 points.
- For so long, for the catch dismissal, a non-striker would cross over the striker and gets eligible to take strike. But from this edition, the rule is reversed. There is no more option of crossover. The incoming batsman will only be taking the strike.
- BCCI has strictly committed to the timings. The game time per innings is set at 90 mins at the end of the 19th over, any delay will result in a fine. Rohit Sharma became the first captain to be issued a fine of 12 lakhs for slow over-rate.
- Connected to that, if the Super Over or Super overs are not completed within the permitted time limit, then IPL will declare the team with a higher rank in the points table as the winner of the match.
These are some interesting changes in the IPL 2022. While these are the changes in the rules, the surprising changes are the captaincies. There are as many as 6 new captains in this edition of IPL. It was only five new captains, but then MS Dhoni decided 2 days before the first match to step down and hand it over to Ravindra Jadeja. That makes 6 new captains in the IPL 2022.
The new rules, new teams and new teams have completely changed the dimensions. It has become bigger, better or not only time will decide. It is not easy to predict the top four teams.
But I will take the chance and go with my gut feeling to predict the top four.
- Delhi Capitals
- Gujarat Titans
- Chennai Super Kings
- Royal Challengers Bangalore
Will revisit after the first half to see how many of these four teams will be in the top four… Till then let’s enjoy the grand cricketing tournament in the World. The highest valued cricket league ever in the world!
