UAE fans wipe away IPL’s matchfixing shame
Catch up on all the action from past IPL editions. Watch this space!
It was with immense excitement that cricket fans in the UAE welcomed the 2014 Indian Premier League. India’s general election forced the IPL to opt for staging the first 20 matches in the UAE. Fans here gave a rousing welcome to the event by turning up in large numbers so that the shame of the match fixing scandal in 2013 got wiped away. All doubts over IPL’s popularity too ended and the league was welcomed by all Indian fans when the later part of the matches moved to India. Kolkata Knight Riders emerged as the new champions defeating Kings XI Punjab by three wickets. Wriddhiman Saha of Punjab became the first player to score a century in an IPL final but his knock went in vain.
Debut edition of the future stars
The 2015 edition saw many players who later went on to become stars of the IPL make their debut. Delhi Capitals’ present captain Shreyas Iyer made his debut for Delhi Daredevils. Kane Williamson and Trent Boult too debuted for Sunrisers Hyderabad. The other debutants were Hardik Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan and David Wiese. This edition also saw AB De Villiers (133n.o) and Virat Kohli (82n.o) put on a 215 runs partnership which was the highest for any wicket in T20 cricket. Mumbai Indians led by Rohit Sharma defeated Chennai Super Kings by 41 runs to win the IPL for the second time.
Exit Chennai and Rajasthan; enter Pune and Gujarat
The 2016 IPL saw the entry of two new teams in Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants as Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended for two years over a spot fixing and betting scandal. Fans witnessed Bangalore’s Virat Kohli in tremendous form piling up 973 runs from 16 matches. He was followed closely by Hyderabad’s David Warner with 848 runs from 17 matches. IPL also introduced LED stumps for the first time in 2016. —