As the thirteenth edition of the controversial and colossal Airtel & Samsung & Coca-Cola sponsored Indian Premier League kicked off by the new commissioner Sir Sachin Tendulkar, two more teams had added to the already 65 teams that were in the fray. The current list of players included players from slums in Dharavi and new rules stated that women too could be added in men’s squad for franchisees who were short of man power.
As Dharmapuri Dharmasena adjusted his helmet, all he was eyeing was a Pepsi cover drive that will make him hit the Tata Consultancy Services boundary, that was just adjacent to the Infosys intimate shots sponsored by reputable IT companies. Dharma, a Sri Lankan who had never played for his country was a leading run-getter at the IPL, being purchased for a modest Rs 25 crore and was the skipper of Dharmapuri Dons. They were chasing 430 from 19 overs. They were deducted an over for slow-over rate and had been fined $ 10 million for the next five games.
The Dons were up against Bandra Barrons and a win in this match will take them on par with Lucknow Lions, Dalhousie Dodos, Dantewada Dadas, Mangalore Maoists, Ongole Owls and Vizag Winners.
With over 60 teams in the tournament, the time-line for the colossus had been increased to 8 months in a year with Future tour programs of the ICC consisted of only IPL games with Ashes, Frank Worrell Trophy, and World Cup being given preference after IPL.
Sir Sachin had announced that he will finally call it quits this year and will be opening the batting with his son Arjun for one final time in the IPL-13. Sachin had amassed 6000 runs in IPL at healthy average of 65 scoring 20 tons and 45 fifties. His ODI tally had reached 28,000 runs while in Tests he had crossed the 25,000 run mark.
Meanwhile, Dharma scored a magnificent 200 (his fifth in the competition) even as his side fell short of the target by two runs. He went on to bag Parle player of the game and was given Rs 3 lakh for each four hit (sponsored by Sahara) and six hit (sponsored by Britannia).
Business barons sold their properties to purchase IPL teams and close to 55 teams were listed on stock exchanges. A new resolution was passed that players too could be listed (the first of its kind) and better still, the players could be exchanged during the tournament on lease. Now, this rule had come into existence in 2014 edition itself but materialised only during IPL-10.
Comparisons with NFL, EPL were no more existing as IPL had single-handedly raised Rs 1,00,000 crore to Indian economy. So much so that, the 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw various political parties sponsoring teams and even promising a berth in a constituency for ever Parle Player of the match.
With teams battling it out for the Rs 250 crore prize money, the advertisers were spending a modest Rs 1 crore for 0.1 sec of an ad. Such has been the fan following for this tournament that world leaders were having global summit on the sidelines of stadiums which hosted IPL matches. Parliament sessions were taking place at Chepauk, M. Chinnaswamy and at the Eden Gardens with other venues likely to be inducted in the coming months. It was being said that some of the players who played in the IPL were looking to buy a team for Jaunpur.
With cricket reaching dizzying heights, football, hockey, basketball associations were being given money on loan, it was estimated that IPL was all set to sponsor the Olympics 2020!!!!
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lol…!
Its important that IPL gets more and more teams under its big wings and expands its fan base…what say