Indian Premier League | Cricket news, live scores, fixtures, list 2016.The glitzy Indian Premier League (IPL) starts on Saturday, helping to ease the heartache of millions of fans following India’s failure to win the World T20 on home soil this month.
India’s short-form extravaganza, famous for its fireworks and dancing cheerleaders as well as unwanted corruption scandals, gets under way with the Mumbai Indians taking on the Rising Pune Supergiants.Fans hope the cash-rich league, featuring blockbuster stars including Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, will soothe the pain of India’s shock semi-final defeat to eventual World T20 champions West Indies.
India went into the tournament as favourites but seriously under-performed, losing to New Zealand and only beating Bangladesh on the last ball before prevailing over Australia to scrape into the final four.
“It was a below par performance by Dhoni and company. I hope IPL helps us overcome the pain of the semis loss,” Kolkata Knight Riders supporter Nehal Ahmed told AFP.Bravo finished with the Purple Cap last year for his 26 wickets in 16 innings as Chennai Super Kings went all the way to the final, after finishing top of the standings, only to lose at the last hurdle against Mumbai Indians. The West Indies allrounder was lethal with the ball in IPL 2015, taking wickets at 16.38 apiece but his economy rate was rather high at 8.14. He is coming from a successful World T20 campaign with champions West Indies, in which he contributed nine wickets in six games, and will definitely play a vital role for the new team Gujarat Lions, where his all-round skills will come quite handy.The first match of IPL 1 was played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on April 18, 2008. And the tournament got off to a rollicking start with KKR's Brendon McCullum taking the RCB bowlers to the cleaners by smashing 13 sixes and 10 fours in his 73-ball 158 to power KKR to 222/3 in 20 overs. RCB in reply were bundled out for just 82 runs in 15.1 overs with only Praveen Kumar managing double figures.
Australian leg-spin wizard Shane Warne proved that he is the best captain that Australia never had as he marshalled his resources extremely well as after 58 matches, it was his team Rajasthan Royals that met Chennai Super Kings in the final at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai on June 1, 2008.
Yusuf Pathan took 3 wickets but Chennai posted a challenging score of 163/5 from their 20 overs. Pathan shone with the bat too hitting fours sixes and three fours in his 39-ball 56 before he was run out by Suresh Raina. The match went all the way down the wire as Rajasthan clinched victory on the last ball of the match.
