The 2008 Indian Premier League season was the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League, established by the BCCI in 2007. The season commenced on 18 April 2008 with the final match was held on 1 June 2008. The competition started with a double round robin league stage, in which each of the 8 teams played a home match and an away match against every other team. These matches were followed by two semi-finals and a final.
In a match which went down to the last ball, Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final to win the title, with Yusuf Pathan named the player of the match in the Finals and Shane Watson adjudged the player of the tournament. Sohail Tanvir won the purple cap for being the top wicket-taking bowler while Shaun Marsh won the orange cap for leading run-scorer in the tournament. Shreevats Goswami was awarded the best under-19 player award and the special award for Fair Play was won by the CSK.
The inaugural season was the only season where players from Pakistan national team were a part of different IPL franchises.IPL 2023: Why aren't Pakistan players in the Indian Premier League? The Sporting News, 27 May 2023. However, following the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, which was perpetrated by the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, geopolitical tensions led to exclusion of Pakistani players from subsequent IPL seasons.
Auctions and personnel signings
The auctions for team ownership was held on January 24, 2008. Mumbai was the most expensive team, costing over 111.9 million. For the inaugural IPL season, each team had a salary cap of US$5 million (Rs. 20 crore approx.). Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were classified as icon players. They played for the franchises representing their home towns and hence did not enter the auction. Few players were classified as marquee players and the teams which lost out on icon players were allowed one extra marquee player to be selected in the auction. The first auction was conducted on 20 February 2008 with Mahendra Singh Dhoni winning the highest bid of US$1.5 million. Andrew Symonds was most expensive foreign player. A further second auction was held for few foreign players signed. Teams also signed players on individual basis.
Venues ChennaiMumbaiMohaliChennai Super KingsMumbai IndiansKings XI Punjab M. A. Chidambaram StadiumCapacity: 50,000 Wankhede StadiumCapacity: 45,000 PCA StadiumCapacity: 30,000 Kolkata Bangalore Navi MumbaiKolkata Knight RidersRoyal Challengers BangaloreMumbai Indians Eden GardensCapacity: 80,000 M. Chinnaswamy StadiumCapacity: 55,000 DY Patil StadiumCapacity: 55,000 Hyderabad Delhi JaipurDeccan ChargersDelhi DaredevilsRajasthan Royals Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium Capacity: 55,000 Feroz Shah Kotla StadiumCapacity: 48,000 Sawai Mansingh StadiumCapacity: 30,000
Rules and regulations Points in the group stage were awarded as follows:
+PointsResultsPointsWin2 pointsNo result1 pointLoss0 points
In the event of tied scores after both teams have faced their quota of overs, a bowl-out will determine the winner, even in the group stage.Playing conditions , from ICC World Twenty20 homepage, retrieved 12 September 2007
In the group stage, teams will be ranked on the following criteria:Final WorldTwenty20 Playing conditions , from ICC World Twenty20 homepage, retrieved 12 September 2007
Higher number of points If equal, higher number of wins If still equal, net run rate If still equal, lower bowling strike rate If still equal, result of head-to-head meeting.
Teams and standings Points table (C) = Eventual champion; (R) = Runner-up.
Match summary
League stage Matches
Mumbai Indians 5 run outs in their innings is a record in the IPL
Playoffs
Semi-final 1
Semi-final 2
Final
Statistics
Most runs Player Team Runs Shaun Marsh Kings XI Punjab 11 11 616 115 Gautam Gambhir Delhi Daredevils 14 14 534 86 Sanath Jayasuriya Mumbai Indians 14 14 514 114* Shane Watson Rajasthan Royals 15 15 472 76* Graeme Smith Rajasthan Royals 11 11 441 91
The tournament's leading scorer wore an orange cap when fielding.
Full Table on ESPNcricinfo
Most wickets Player Team Sohail Tanvir Rajasthan Royals 11 22 6/14 Shane Warne Rajasthan Royals 15 19 3/19 Sreesanth Kings XI Punjab 15 19 3/29 Shane Watson Rajasthan Royals 15 17 3/10 Piyush Chawla Kings XI Punjab 15 17 3/25
The tournament's leading wicket taker wore a purple cap when fielding. Full Table on ESPNcricinfo Note: Economy rate acts as a tie-breaker if players are level for most wickets.
Controversies
Cheerleaders
The IPL received criticism from a few politicians and feminists for bringing in foreign cheerleaders, which was seen by many to not be in the traditional spirit of the game, as well as being against some Indian sensibilities. Two cheerleaders from London were asked to leave the ground at Mohali "because of the colour of their skin" by Wizcraft International Entertainment, which handled the team Kings XI Punjab. Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson, both from London and of African ancestry were allegedly barred from entering the stadium by employees of Wizcraft International Entertainment on the pretext that "people don't like dark girls here". Both girls alleged that an employee referred to them with the racial slur "nigger".
The BCCI said a probe would be initiated by the IPL only if the two women officially complain to IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
The BCCI and IPL officials later expressed surprised that the two cheerleaders did not complain about the alleged racist behaviour while they were in India and spoke about it only after they returned to London.
"We have not received any complaint from any cheerleaders that they were asked to leave by the Mohali-based Kings XI Punjab franchise recently because of the colour of their skin." BCCI joint secretary M. P. Pandove said in Mohali.
Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh altercation On 25 April 2008, following the Kings XI Punjab's victory over the Mumbai Indians at Mohali, Kings XI Punjab player Sreesanth was slapped under his eye by Harbhajan Singh, the stand-in captain of Mumbai Indians. The incident came to light as Sreesanth was caught by TV cameras sobbing inconsolably on the field before the presentation ceremony. Sreesanth had since downplayed the incident saying he had no complaints against Singh who was "like an elder brother" to him. Singh's team had lost their third consecutive match, and he apparently reacted violently to Sreesanth's approaching him and reportedly saying "hard luck". The footage of the slap has not yet been released for public viewing. The BCCI launched an investigation into the incident and decided to ban Singh for the remaining 11 matches of his season.
References
External links
ESPNcricinfo – Indian Premier League