The Indian Premier League (IPL) (also known as the TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons) is a men's Twenty20 (T20) cricket league that is annually held in India and contested by ten city-based franchise teams.[3][4] The BCCI founded the league in 2007. The competition is usually held in summer between March and May every year. It has an exclusive window in the ICC Future Tours Programme due to fewer international cricket tours happen during IPL seasons anywhere in the world.[5]
The IPL is the most-popular cricket league in the world; in 2014, it was ranked sixth by average attendance among all sports leagues.[6] In 2010, the IPL became the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube.[7][8] The brand value of the IPL in 2022 was ₹90,038 crore (US$11 billion).[9] According to BCCI, the 2015 IPL season contributed ₹1,150 crore (US$140 million) to the GDP of the economy of India.[10] In December 2022, the IPL became a decacorn valued at US$10.9 billion, registering a 75% growth in dollar terms since 2020 when it was valued at $6.2 billion, according to a report by consulting firm D & P Advisory.[11]
The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was founded in 2007 with funding provided by Zee Entertainment Enterprises.[14] The ICL was not recognised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the BCCI was not pleased with its committee members joining the ICL executive board.[15] To prevent players from joining the ICL, the BCCI increased the prize money in its domestic tournaments and imposed lifetime bans on players joining the ICL, which the BCCI considered a rebel league.[16][17]
Foundation
On 13 September 2007,[18] following India's victory at the 2007 T20 World Cup,[19] the BCCI announced a franchise-based Twenty20 cricket (T20) competition called Indian Premier League. The first season was due to start in April 2008 in a "high-profile ceremony" in New Delhi. BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi, who led the IPL effort, gave details of the tournament, including its format, prize money, franchise revenue system, and squad composition rules. It was also announced the IPL would be run by a seven-man governing council composed of former India players and BCCI officials and that the two top IPL teams would qualify for that year's Champions League Twenty20. Modi also said the BCCI had been working on the idea for two years and that the IPL was not started as a "knee-jerk reaction" to the ICL.[18] The league's format was similar to that of the English Premier League and the National Basketball Association in the United States.[17] According to Modi: "The IPL has been designed to entice an entirely new generation of sports fans into the grounds throughout the country. The dynamic Twenty20 format has been designed to attract a young fan base, including women and children."[18]
To choose team owners for the new league, an auction of franchises was held on 24 January 2008; the reserve prices of the franchises were around $400 million.[17] At the end of the auction, the winning bidders and the cities in which the teams would be based: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali, and Mumbai.[17] The franchises were sold for a total of $723.59 million.[20] The ICL ended in 2008.[21]
On 21 March 2010, new franchises Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala joined the league before the fourth season in 2011.[26]Sahara Adventure Sports Group bought the Pune franchise for $370 million while Rendezvous Sports World bought the Kochi franchise for $333.3 million.[26] On 11 November 2011, Kochi Tuskers Kerala were terminated when they failed to pay the BCCI the 10% bank guarantee element of the franchise before the 2011 season began.[27]
On 14 September 2012, after the 2009 champion team, the Deccan Chargers could not find new owners, the BCCI announced the team would be terminated.[28] On 25 October, an auction for the replacement franchise was held; Sun TV Network won the bid for the Hyderabad franchise.[29] The team was named Sunrisers Hyderabad.[30]
Pune Warriors India withdrew from the IPL on 21 May 2013 over financial differences with the BCCI.[31] The BCCI officially terminated the franchise on 26 October 2013 because the franchise failed to provide the necessary bank guarantee.[32]
Many IPL team owners has expanded their business by buying team in various leagues around the world, such as SA20 of South Africa, Caribbean Premier League (CPL). They branded their teams with similar names of their IPL teams.[42]
Administration
The IPL headquarters is situated inside the Cricket Centre next to Wankhede Stadium in Churchgate, Mumbai. The IPL Governing Council is responsible for the league's functions, including tournament organization. Its members are:[43]
Player acquisition, squad composition, and salaries
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Team rules are as of 2020, and average pay figures are from 2015. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2023)
A team can acquire players through the annual player auction, trading with other teams during trading windows, and signing replacements for unavailable players. Players sign up for the auction[46] and set their base price and are bought by the highest-bidding franchise. Players unsold at the auction are eligible to be signed as replacement signings. In the trading windows, a player can only be traded with consent; the franchise pays any difference between the old and new contracts. If the new contract is worth more than the old one, the player and the selling franchise share the difference. There are generally three trading windows – two before the auction and one between the auction and the start of the tournament. Players cannot be traded outside the trading windows or during the tournament, whereas replacements can be signed before or during the tournament.
Some of the rules for franchises, as of the 2020 season, are:
The salary cap of the entire squad must not exceed ₹85 crore (US$11 million).[47]
Under-19 players cannot be picked unless they have previously played first-class or List A cricket.[48]
Player contracts run for one year; the franchise can extend the contract by one or two years. Since the 2014 season, player contracts have been denominated in the Indian rupee, before which the contracts were in the US dollar. Overseas players can be remunerated in the currency of the player's choice at the exchange rate on either the contract-due date or the actual payment date.[49] Before the 2014 season, Indian domestic players were not included in the player auction pool. They could be signed up by franchises at a discrete amount while a fixed sum of ₹10 lakh (US$13,000) to ₹30 lakh (US$38,000) would be deducted per signing from the franchise's salary purse. This received significant opposition from franchise owners, who complained richer franchises were "luring players with under-the-table deals." The IPL later decided to include domestic players in the player auction.[50]
The BCCI give 10% percent of foreign players' salary to their country's national cricket board.[51]
According to a 2015 survey by Sporting Intelligence and ESPN The Magazine, the average IPL salary when pro-rated is US$4.33 million per year, the second-highest of sports leagues in the world. Because players in the IPL are contracted only for the duration of the tournament – less than two months – the weekly IPL salaries are extrapolated pro data to obtain an average annual salary, unlike other sports leagues in which players are contracted by a single team for the entire year.[52]
According to a report by The Telegraph, IPL players are paid 18% of the revenue, which is the lowest amount compared to other major sports leagues. Most sports leagues pay the players at least 50% of the revenue. The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations said that IPL players must be paid fairly.[53][54][55]
Prize money
The 2022 season of the IPL offered total prize money of ₹46.5 crore (US$5.8 million), with the winning team netting ₹20 crore (US$2.5 million). The second-placed team received ₹13 crore (US$1.6 million), the third-placed team received ₹7 crore (US$880,000), and the fourth-placed team received ₹6.5 crore (US$810,000).[56][57] The other teams are not awarded any prize money. The IPL rules mandate half of the prize money must be distributed among the players.[58]
IPL games incorporate television timeouts. Each team is given a two-and-a-half-minute "strategic timeout" during each inning; one must be taken by the bowling team between the ends of the sixth and ninth overs. One must be taken by the batting team between the ends of the thirteenth and sixteenth overs. To indicate the strategic timeout, the on-field umpire will raise his hand in the air and tap his wrist. A penalty may be imposed if the umpires find teams misusing this privilege.[59]
Since the 2018 season, the Decision Review System (DRS) has been used in all IPL matches, allowing each team two chances per innings to review an on-field umpire's decision.[60] From the 2023 season, players can review wides and no-balls, which is not the case in other men's cricket tournaments.[61]
If the bowling team does not complete its overs in the allocated time, it may place only four fielders outside of the fielding restrictions circle for the remainder of the innings,[61] or the match referee may punish bowling team's captain after the game. In a season on first offense captain will receive a 12 lakhrupee fine, on second offence 24 lakh rupee fine additionally along with captain all team members including substitute that is Impact player also will be fined with 6 lakh rupee or 25% of their match fees (whichever is lesser), if at third time again the team bowled with slow over-rate in the same season, then the captain will be suspended for next one match, also he will be penalized with 30 lakh rupee fine and rest of the team will be penalized with 12 lakh each or 50% match fees (whichever is lesser). These penalties will remain the same for subsequent offenses.[62]
Teams can use a substitute, who is termed as an "impact player," from a list of up to five players named as possible substitutes. The substitution can be made before the start of an inning, when a wicket falls, when a batter retires or at the end of an over. This rule is borrowed from Football and the NBA. Both teams can introduce a substitute once per match. If a batsman gets out and the bowling team decides to make a substitution in the middle of the over, the substitute bowler cannot bowl the remaining balls of that over. The replaced player cannot participate in the match, even as a substitute fielder. Teams can introduce an overseas player as a substitute if they have included fewer than four overseas players in their playing eleven.[63][64] The onfield umpire indicates substitution is taken to the audience by making 'X symbol' by his arms.
In a match, participating teams can declare their playing eleven to the match referee before or after the toss.[63]
A penalty of five runs will be imposed if a fielder or wicketkeeper makes an unfair movement while the bowler is bowling, before the ball reaches the batsman. The ball will be designated as dead ball.[65][61][63]
Teams can incorporate a maximum of four overseas players in the playing eleven.[64]
Teams must include twenty-five players in their squad, in which they can include up to eight overseas players.[66]
The Orange Cap (presently also known as the Aramco Orange Cap for sponsorship reasons), introduced in 2008, is awarded to the highest run-getter at the end of each season. It is an ongoing competition; the highest-run getter wears the cap during fielding throughout the tournament. The eventual winner keeps the cap for the season. Brendon McCullum was the first player to wear the Orange Cap and Shaun Marsh the inaugural winner of the award. Australian batsman David Warner has won the award thrice, more than any other player, in 2015, 2017 and 2019 respectively.[101]Shubman Gill of Gujarat Titans scored 890 runs throughout the 2023 season is the present holder of the award.[102][103]
Purple Cap
The Purple Cap is awarded to the highest wicket-taker at the end of each season. It is transferred to the bowler who leads in the wicket-takes table and is eventually bestowed upon the winner, who keeps the cap for the season.Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dwayne Bravo are the only players to have won the award twice.Yuzvendra Chahal of the Rajasthan Royals who took twenty-seven wickets during the 2022 season is the present holder of the award.[104][105]
Most Valuable Player
The Most Valuable Player award was called the "Man of the Tournament" until the 2012 season. The IPL introduced the Most Valuable Player rating system in 2013, the leader of which was named the Most Valuable Player at the end of the season. Shubman Gill won the award in 2023.
Fair Play Award
The Fair Play Award is given after each season to the team with the best fair play record. The winner is decided based on the umpires' points to the teams. After each match, the two on-field umpires and the third umpire score the performance of both teams. The 2022 winners were Rajasthan Royals.[106] The 2023 winners were Delhi Capitals.
Emerging Player Award
The Emerging Player Award was presented for the "best under-19 player" in 2008 and the "best under-23 player" in 2009 and 2010, being called "Under-23 Success of the Tournament". In 2011 and 2012, the award was known as "Rising Star of the Year," in 2013, it was called "Best Young Player of the Season". Since 2014, the award has been called the Emerging Player of the Year. In 2016, Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh was the first and only foreign player to win the Emerging Player of the Year award. The 2022 winner was Umran Malik.[107] The 2023 winner was Yashasvi Jaiswal
Maximum Sixes Award
The Maximum Sixes Award is presented to the player who hits the most number of sixes at the end of the season. Jos Buttler of the Rajasthan Royals won this award in 2022 with forty-five sixes in seventeen innings.[108]
Financials
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (May 2022)
From 2008 to 2012, the IPL title sponsor was DLF, India's largest real estate developer, which bid ₹200 crore (US$25 million) for the rights for five seasons.[110] After the 2012 season, PepsiCo bought the title sponsorship rights for ₹397 crore (US$50 million) for the next five seasons[111] but terminated the deal in October 2015, two years before the expiry of the contract, due to the two-season suspension of the Chennai and Rajasthan franchises from the league.[112] The BCCI transferred the title sponsorship rights for the remaining two seasons of the contract to Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo for ₹200 crore (US$25 million).[113]
In June 2017, Vivo retained the rights for the next five seasons from 2018 to 2022 with a winning bid of ₹2,199 crore (US$280 million).[114][115] On 4 August 2020, Vivo rescinded the title sponsorship rights due to the military stand-off between India and China at the Line of Actual Control in July 2020.[116] The withdrawal was also a result of Vivo's market losses due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; Vivo intended to return as the title sponsor for the following three years.[117]Dream11 bagged the title sponsorship for the 2020 IPL for an amount of ₹222 crore (US$28 million).[118] Vivo returned as the title sponsor for the 2021 IPL season[119] but withdrew again, and was replaced by the Tata Group for the next two seasons.[120]InsideSport reported the BCCI would receive ₹498 crore (US$62 million) for the 2022 and 2023 seasons from title sponsors. Vivo had previously agreed to pay a higher amount for the last two seasons of its sponsorship contract due to the league's expansion from the 2022 season. According to InsideSport, due to the new deal's structure, Tata would pay ₹335 crore (US$42 million) per year while Vivo would pay the deficit of ₹163 crore (US$20 million) per season.[121][122]
Saudi Aramco brought the rights to advertise on the Purple and Orange caps in 2022.[123]
Payments to foreign national boards
The BCCI pays ten percent of the auctioned value of a player to their respective cricket board. In January 2018, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said the IPL would double the amount paid to cricket boards that made their players available for an entire season.[124] In 2022, Australian Cricketers' Association expressed its unhappiness about this.[125]
Brand value
The IPL tournament rapidly grew in value between 2016 and 2018. Financial experts valued the IPL at US$4.16 billion in 2016; that number grew to $5.3 billion in 2017 and $6.13 billion in 2018. A report from Duff & Phelps said one of the contributing factors in the rapid growth of the IPL's value was a new television deal with Star India Private Limited, which engaged more viewers because the IPL was transmitted to regional channels in eight languages; under the previous deal, the transmissions were limited to sports networks with English-language commentary.[126][127]
According to an independent report conducted by Brand Finance, a London-based company, after the conclusion of the 2017 Indian Premier League, the IPL's business value grew by 37% to an all-time peak of $5.3 billion, exceeding the five-billion-dollar mark for the first time in a season. According to the company's director Savio D'Souza:
Now in its 11th season, the Indian Premier League is here to stay. The league has delivered financially for the players, franchisees, sponsors, and India as a whole, prompting a strong desire among stakeholders to value it appropriately. To ensure continued development, management, and team owners must explore innovative ways of engaging fans, clubs, and sponsors.[128][relevant?]
In December 2022, the IPL became a decacorn valued at US$10.9 billion, registering a 75% growth in dollar terms since 2020 when it was valued at $6.2 billion, according to a report by consulting firm D & P Advisory.[129]
In 2022, the BCCI took insurance of ₹5,000 crore (US$630 million) for the IPL. This insurance policy involves all stakeholders, including broadcasters, ancillary services providers, and sponsors. The BCCI is covered in the case of any revenue losses due to weather, riots, and other unforeseen events.[133]
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2022)
2008–2017: Sony Pictures Networks
The IPL's broadcast rights were held by a partnership between Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) and World Sport Group (WSG) under a ten-year contract valued at US$1.03 billion; SPN held domestic rights in India while WSG handled international distribution.[134][135] The initial plan was for twenty percent of these proceeds to go to the IPL, eight percent as prize money and seventy-two percent would be distributed to the franchisees from 2008 until 2012, after which the IPL would go public and list its shares.[136] In March 2010, however, the IPL decided not to go public and list its shares.[137] As of the 2016 season, Sony Max, Sony Six, and Sony ESPN served as the IPL's domestic broadcasters; Max and Six aired broadcasts with commentary in Hindi, SIX also aired broadcasts in Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, while Sony ESPN aired broadcasts in English.[138] SPN also produced Extraaa Innings T20, a combination of a post-match show with an entertainment talk show featuring celebrity guests.[139][140]
The IPL became a major television property within India; Sony Max is typically the most-watched television channel in the country during the tournament,[141] and by 2016, annual advertising revenue exceeded ₹12 billion (US$150 million). Viewership numbers were expected to increase further during the 2016 season due to the industry adoption of the new Broadcast Audience Research Council audience measurement system, which calculates viewership in both urban and rural markets rather than only urban markets.[142][138]
2018–2022: Star Sports and Hotstar
On 4 September 2017, it was announced the IPL's then-current digital rights holder Star India had acquired the global media rights to the IPL under a five-year contract beginning in 2018.[143] The contract was valued at ₹163.475 billion (US$2.55 billion), a 158% increase over the previous deal, and the most expensive broadcast rights deal in the history of cricket. The IPL sold the rights in packages for domestic television, domestic digital, and international rights; although Sony held the highest bid for domestic television and Facebook made a US$600 million bid for domestic digital rights – which US media interpreted as a sign Facebook was interested in pursuing professional sports rights – [144][145] Star was the only bidder from the shortlist of 14 to make bids in all three categories.[146][147][148]
Star Sports broadcast matches on television and Hotstar streamed matches in India and other markets.[149][150] In September 2018, Star and mobile carrier Jio reached a five-year sub-licencing agreement under which all domestic cricket matches aired by Hotstar would also be available via the Jio TV service for Jio Prime mobile subscribers.[151] Throughout the 2019 season, international streaming viewership on Hotstar broke records, exceeding 10 million concurrent viewers multiple times. The 2019 final broke these records, peaking at 18.6 million concurrent streaming viewers.[152]
2023–2027: Star Sports and JioCinema
The next cycle of IPL media rights will last from 2023 to 2027 and was put to auction.[153] In this auction, the broadcasting rights were divided into four packages. Package A was for domestic television rights, and Package B was for domestic digital rights. Package C was for the digital rights of eighteen non-exclusive matches, and Package D was for international television and digital rights, further divided into four groups. On 13 June 2022, it was reported the packages for domestic television and streaming rights had fetched at least ₹397.75 billion (nearly US$5.1 billion) in total, doubling the value of the 2018–2022 contract.[153]
The next day, it was announced that Star Sports had renewed its contract for television rights by winning package A, and that a Viacom18 consortium had exclusively acquired the streaming rights by winning both Package B and C.[154] The two contracts for Package A and B are cumulatively valued at around US$6.2 billion; with the new contracts, the IPL overtook the Premier League in English football as the second highest-valued sports media property worldwide, behind only the NFL, whose new media contracts taking effect in the 2023 season cumulatively fetched US$111 billion.[155][156][157][158]
In February 2023, Viacom18 announced it would stream the 2023 IPL for free via its digital platform JioCinema with feeds in 12 languages, including English and regional languages, and in 4K resolution.[159][160][161] The same month, The Walt Disney Company reported its loss of the IPL had contributed to a net loss of 2.4 million Disney+ subscribers worldwide, primarily in India.[162][163]
Ahead of the 2023 IPL, Star launched HD feeds of Star Sports 1 in Tamil and Telugu and announced its free-to-air channel Star Utsav Movies would carry twelve matches. It was anticipated viewership of Star Sports' broadcasts may not be heavily impacted by the Jio deal due to its existing market reach – including as rights holder of India's home matches – and viewers who were less familiar with over-the-top services and technical issues associated with such services. JioCinema reported the IPL had 1.4 billion views on the service over the opening weekend, which was higher than the entirety of the 2022 season on Disney+ Hotstar.[164][165] The 2023 final set a record for the most concurrent viewers of a livestreamed event, peaking at over 32 million viewers (surpassing a record of 25.3 million set by Hotstar during the 2019 Cricket World Cup).[166][167]
In June 2022 media-rights auction, Sky Sports and Viacom18 acquired the rights for the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, while Times Internet gained the rights for the Middle East, North Africa, and the US.[168]
In its 3rd season, the IPL introduced a new rule: "strategic timeout" of seven minutes and fifty seconds duration in each inning. Franchises and Sachin Tendulkar disapproved of it. Many saw it as BCCI's use of 'extended drinks break' to earn money; it faced widespread backlash.[172][173] Then IPL president said the rule is intended to allow teams to make strategies amid the game. Still, critics disagreed with this argument and said the strategic time-out is a way to generate money. Later, the BCCI reduced its duration but still applied it.[173]
These timeouts boost the IPL revenue, every 10-second slot gets sold for ₹5 lakhs or more.[174][175] Due to these time-outs, an IPL match halts four times for more than 10 minutes. As per Sunil Gavaskar, along with many other reasons, Strategic Timeouts (ST) delay the IPL matches, and they did not end at the stipulated time of 3 hours 10 minutes, instead end after 4 hours.[176] Amid Super Giants against Mumbai Indians eliminator game 2023, on-air he uttered, "How many times batsmen get out after a strategic timeout," indicating it plays a role in immediate fall of wickets.[177]
Some cricketers have criticized strategic timeouts for interrupting the flow of play. In the past, it even faced a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with the possibility that ST breaks were being used by bookies to connect with the players. In the past, IPL's stakeholders admitted that STs are unavoidable because it gives BCCI and broadcasters additional time for more ads. In 2013, after a spot-fixing matter, then-president N. Shrinivasan got sacked due to a pending inquiry and Jagmohan Dalmia got appointed as interim president. Dalmia expressed openly that he wants to end STs and take other measures to restrain malpractices in IPL. [172]
In April 2010, IPL president Shashank Manohar said in a press conference that, we (IPL) don't know who are the owners of Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Punjab team, I did not find name of Shilpa Shetty in papers and she says she is an owner of Rajasthan Royals. The initial bid for RR was made by a person named Manoj Bhandale after that other firms from Mauritius started got added as share holders; In response Shilpa Shetty tweeted, she is a proprietor of RR. About Punjab team, IPL president reveled that, in team bidding event only Preity Zinta was interested to buy that team, she said she will form a firm, she done it and singed bid agreement with BCCI, but Preity do not have a single share in his name in that firm. Manohar alleged that Shetty, Zinta violated agreement as per it, prior permission of BCCI is mandatory before transferring ownership shares with other people.[178]
N. Srinivasan-CSK
In 2010, an e-mail leaked in Indian media, according to an Economic Times article, said former IPL president Lalit Modi helped then-BCCI president N Shrinivasan to buy Andrew Flintoff in the auction for his team Chennai Super Kings (CSK).[179] Shrinivasan was criticized for owning an IPL team due to his conflict of interests. Former BCCI president A. Muthiah filed a lawsuit against Shrinivasan in the Supreme Court of India; he claimed Shrinivasan altered the BCCI's rules to allow himself to purchase a team. The Lodha Committee banned CSK from the IPL for two years when their team principal, Gurunath Meiyappan, was found guilty of betting and providing inside information to bookies.[180] The supreme court criticized Shrinivasan for buying an IPL team while serving as BCCI president; a judge commented; "How can a BCCI chief own a team?".[181] However he still own the team and his daughter Rupa Gurunath often appear in stadiums amid CSK's games.
Ravindra Jadeja
In 2010, the BCCI banned Ravindra Jadeja from the IPL for one year after he violated the IPL guidelines by not signing a renewal contract with his team Rajasthan Royals, and instead negotiated a more lucrative contract with other teams through back door.[182]
Aussie players dispute with their board
Due to the BCCI giving one-tenth of foreign players' salaries to their respective country's national cricket boards, a dispute between Australian cricketers and Cricket Australia started. The Australian Cricketers' Association also opposed the arrangement.[183]
Shashi Tharoor, Sunanda Pushkar Kochi team ownership
In 2010, IPL president reveled that Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's friend Sunanda Pushkar have sweat equity share in Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), the proprieter of Kochi Tuskers Kerala team. Opposition BJP agitated against congress party. Later it revealed that Pushkar has ₹70 Cr. equity in RSW. Tharoor offered to leave his equity but many within Congress felt that by doing this Tharoor pleaded guilty. Due to pressure Congress demanded his resignation. He was the first minister of United Progressive Alliance 2 who got slammed for his illigal moves.[184]
IPL Spot Fixing
In the 2012 IPL spot-fixing case, the BCCI gave a lifetime ban to Deccan Chargers player TP Sudhindra and suspended four other players.[185] In a sting operation, Pune Warriors India player Mohnish Mishra was recorded stating IPL franchise owners pay their players through black money. His franchise later said Mishra had apologized for his incorrect statement.[186][187] On 20 May 2012, police detained Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell when they caught during a raid at a rave party at a suburb of Mumbai; both players denied taking drugs or drinking alcohol.[188] However it was later proven that in reality, they had taken banned drugs after police tested their urine and blood samples in a lab.[189]
In the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting case, Delhi police arrested players Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan and S Sreesanth on allegations of spot-fixing; they received a lifetime ban from the BCCI. Police also arrested Gurunath Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings' team principal and son-in-law of then BCCI president N. Shrinivasan for illegally betting on IPL matches and passing team information to the bookmakers.[190][191]
The Supreme Court of India appointed Lodha Committee banned Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for two years due to the RR proprietor and CSK team principal Meiyappan was found guilty of betting and bringing IPL and the game into disrepute. After this, BCCI banned Meiyappan from involving in the game. Justice R.M.Lodha said due to all this fixing-betting matter, the reputation of the game has been hurt quite grievously, "Disrepute has been brought to cricket, the BCCI, and the IPL to such an extent that there are doubts abound in the public whether the game is clean or not." He further elaborated his Committee's observations and said it had proved beyond doubt that Gurunath Meiyappan, the CSK's team principal, was heavily involved in betting on his team.[192]
Slow Over Rates
IPL frequently gets criticism due to the slow pace of its matches. During the 2023 season, Jos Buttler mentioned on Twitter to speed up the pace of the play. An IPL match should end within 3:10 hours of the stipulated time, but it often ends after 4 hours. As per Gavaskar, strategic timeouts, reserve players running on the field with drinks and messages amid games, and batsmen asking for helmet results in these delays. Field umpires sometimes penalize teams by restricting them to field just four fielders outside the 30-yard area, or match referee penalizes by cutting captain's - team members' match fees, but it has not solved the problem. Games often run at a slow speed and finish late. Millions of viewers feel that IPL matches should be fast-paced.[193]
