A glimpse of Inaugural season 2008 IPL:
On April 18, 2008, a form of cricket was started that had the best cricketers all over the world converge for the epic battle that exceeded all barriers, named as Indian Premier League (IPL). In a few years, the craziness becomes wild, crowd-pleasing favorite reached its world-shattering peak. Each player was a star in the league.
After several months of excitement, hype, speculation, and controversy the high profile Indian Premier League started with
Eight teams: Not a single player, only warriors
- Rajasthan Royals
- Kings XI Punjab
- Chennai Super Kings
- Delhi Capitals
- Mumbai Indians
- Kolkata Knight Riders
- Royal Challengers Bangalore
- Deccan Chargers
The cash-rich tournament kicked off in Bangalore with Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. All the eight teams’ stars came for the inaugural tournament. Fans from all over the globe zoomed in to see the star cricketers in a single place.
After the Chinnaswamy Stadium was dived in darkness, a spotlight was focused on the rival skippers, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. For the national India team, both the duo had played solid for more than a decade but this was completely new.
Apr 18,2008
1st match, Bangalore
Royal Challengers Banglore Vs. Kolkata Knight Riders
Brendon McCullum’s aggressive 158* started the tournament with a bang
The IPL had begun with a tremendous start as McCullum’s 158* off 73 deliveries helped Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Banglore in the opening match of the tournament. In the whole history of the league, his score was the highest individual score until Chris Gayle scored 175* against Pune Warriors in the season of 2013. Brendon McCullum’s blistering start set the tone for the league, helping the tournament become an instant hit.
Apr 19, 2008
2nd match, Mohali
Chennai Super Kings Vs. Kings XI Punjab
Michael Hussey’s century gives Chennai a sparkling beginning
After McCullum’s show, on the next day, Michael Hussey proved why he was an unimaginable icon. His fantastic innings of 116 runs with 54 deliveries helped Chennai to score the highest total 240/5 in the entire 2008 season and won against Punjab. Chennai Super Kings won the match by 33 runs.
Apr 22, 2008
7th match, Hyderabad
Deccan Chargers Vs Delhi Capitals
Sehwag’s 30 runs sink Hyderabad
After restricting the Deccan Chargers to 142 runs in 20 overs, Virender Sehwag’s attack brought them to downfall. The match was always remembered for the aggressive display of powerful batting from the Nawab of Najafgarh, Sehwag. On the second over of Symonds, Sehwag smashed 30 runs with the over reading:4 6 4 6 4 6 and Delhi Capitals won the match by 9 wickets.
Apr 24, 2008
9th match, Hyderabad
Deccan Chargers Vs Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals records the maximum victorious run-chase
After Symond’s century helped Deccan Chargers to score 214 runs, Rajasthan managed to pull off an improbable win. Graeme Smith & Yusuf Pathan were the chief architects of the victory, made a 98 runs partnership for the second wicket. But the player who played the major role of a finisher is Shane Warne. In the last over, 17 runs were needed and Warner hit one four, two sixes. It was a world-class win and Rajasthan Royals records the highest successful run-chase.
Apr 25, 2008
10th match, Mohali
Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians
The Slapgate controversy: When Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth
After the match, Mumbai Indian’s well-known spinner Harbhajan Singh had slapped Punjab’s bowler S Sreesanth and he was seen crying on the ground. This happened when Mumbai Indians defeated the third time consecutively at the beginning of the season. After this incident, Harbhajan Singh found guilty and was banned for the leftover matches of the season and 5 ODIs. In this match, Kings XI Punjab won by 66 runs.
Apr 29, 2008
16th match, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians win their first match of the league
After defeating the first 4 matches of the league, Mumbai Indians were managed to win on their 6th match with a victory over Kolkata Knight Riders. At some point, Mumbai was struggling at 25/3. But Robin Uthappa and Dwayne Bravo unbeaten 113 runs partnership gave their first win of the league. Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets.
May 01, 2008
19th match, Hyderabad
Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab
Shaun Marsh enters in a magnificent way
On his first IPL match, Shaun Marsh scored a fantastic unbeatable 84 runs, who was picked based upon his performances in domestic cricket. After this match, he became the most potent striker for Kings XI Punjab and cemented his place in the team. In this match, Kings XI Punjab won by 7 wickets.
May 04, 2008
24th match, Jaipur
Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings
Sohail Tanvir’s 6-for destroys Chennai
Sohail Tanvir of Rajasthan Royals created an amazing spell and helped his team bowl out Chennai Super Kings for only 109 runs. His tremendous figures of 4-0-14-6 were the best bowling figure of the 1st season. On the very first over, he dismissed both openers Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming of Chennai. And Rajasthan Royals won the match by 8 wickets.
May 08, 2008
29th match, Kolkata
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Ganguly’s bowling victory for Kolkata
Sourav Ganguly was an outstanding batsman, no doubt on that. But in that match, Ganguly turned out to be a ferocious bowler. His figures of 3-0-7-1 spoke loudly of his bowling capacity. Because of him, batsmen of Bangalore failed to chase the total runs of 129 and Kolkata won the match by 5 runs.
May 10, 2008
31st match, Chennai
Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab
Balaji records the first hat-trick of the league
After scoring 181 runs, Chennai Super Kings’ Lakshmipathy Balaji records the first hat-trick of the tournament. Balaji took the wickets of Kings XI Punjab’s Piyush Chawla, Irfan Pathan, and VRV Singh in the final over of the match. He concluded with figures of 5/24 that awarded him the Man of the Match and helped Chennai Super Kings to win by 18 runs.
May 16, 2008
38th match, Mumbai
Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata get bowled out for only 67 runs
In the 38th match of the opening season, Kolkata gets bowled for just 67, which was the lowest total of the 2008 season. This was the fifth win of Mumbai. This could be possible because of the superb spell of the 3/12 set of Shaun Pollack. With the help of Jayasuriya’s 48 runs off 117 deliveries, Mumbai Indians won the match in just the sixth over of the innings.
May 21, 2008
45th match, Mumbai
Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab
Yuvraj’s Rhodes-style run-out grabs a thriller for Punjab
After continuous winning for the sixth time, Punjab finally stopped his winning journey by Yuvraj Singh, who gave them a nail-biting finish. On the last ball, just 2 runs were needed and only one wicket left. But in the end, Yuvraj’s brilliance won the match for Punjab. Yuvraj Singh’s pulled off an outstanding diving effort to run-out Vikrant Yeligati turned the result. The mode of run-out remembered the instance of 1992 World Cup, Jonty Rhode’s superman effort to run out Inzamam-ul-Haq turned the match on its head.
May 30, 2008
1st semi-final, Mumbai
Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals
Watson’s outstanding show puts Rajasthan Royals in the final
In the first semi-final match of the league, Shane Watson’s marvelous half-century helped Rajasthan Royals cross the 190 run-mark. His bowling performance was also outstanding with figures of 3/10 in 3 overs, which sealed the final berth for Rajasthan Royals. For only 87 runs, Delhi Capitals bowled out and Rajasthan Royals won the semi-final by a huge margin of 105 runs.
Jun 01, 2008
The final match, Mumbai
Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings
Yusuf Pathan’s heroics give Rajasthan Royal the title
The final match of the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League was the battle between the giants. Both the teams, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals reached the final stage after great wins in their respective semi-final matches. The match lived up to all the expectations as it changed into a cliff hanger. But Yousuf Pathan provided another tremendous match-winning spell and help his team win the title.
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to field first. Chennai at the end of 10 overs, scored 75/2. The Baroda man, Yousuf Pathan kept a tight leash on the batsmen of Chennai during the middle overs and took 3 wickets and ended with figures 4-0-22-3. Chennai finished its innings by scoring 163 runs.
Rajasthan didn’t get a good start and until 7th over, they were 42/3. Then Watson and Pathan got together and gave a 65 runs partnership which helped Rajasthan to achieve some kind of stability in the run-chase. Pathan registered another half-century but dismissed in the 18th over. Now, Rajasthan needed 21 runs to win. It could be very tough for Rajasthan but Tanvir and Warne showed their wonderful innings and eventually, Rajasthan Royals won the title on the last ball of the match. Out of the 16 matches, Rajasthan Royals was the most stable team and won 13 matches.
2008 IPL Point Table:
| Team | Pld | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Net RR | For | Against | Pts |
| Rajasthan Royals | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +0.632 | 2,245/261.1 | 2,153/270.2 | 22 |
| Kings XI Punjab | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | +0.509 | 2,352/259.5 | 2,271/266.5 | 20 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.192 | 2,241/264.2 | 2,195/253.1 | 16 |
| Delhi Capitals | 14 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | +0.342 | 2,001/233.2 | 2,031/246.4 | 15 |
| Mumbai Indians | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | +0.570 | 2,080/249.1 | 2,096/269.3 | 14 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 14 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 1 | -0.147 | 1,845/242.4 | 1,1718/221.4 | 13 |
| Royals Challengers Bangalore | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | -1.160 | 1,983/272.4 | 2,205/261.3 | 8 |
| Deccan Chargers | 14 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | -0.467 | 2,229/270 | 2307/264.3 | 4 |
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