Billion-dollar franchise valuations, emerging talent contributing to India’s continuing dominant show in world cricket and a nation completely hooked to its glamour and razzmatazz.
Lalit Modi didn’t envisage the IPL reaching such heights when he started its first edition in 2008.
It is in this backdrop that the 19th edition gets underway in Bengaluru on Saturday with defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru taking on the explosive Sunrisers Hyderabad. RCB will return to their home venue, where they don’t have a very encouraging record, with memories of triumph and tragedy during their victory parade last year.
Even during their run to the first IPL championship last season, they lost their first three home games, struggling to come to terms with tennis-ball bounce on the pitch. They made amends soon after, winning their next two at home, but their march to the title was built on their dominance on the road.
“I don’t want to talk about all our lessons on the conditions in Chinnaswamy. But we have had them, we lost our first three matches here in Chinnaswamy last year, and we did learn from those experiences,” RCB head coach Andy Flower said on the eve of the game.
“But I think the salient point is that at your home venue, you should be able to have a better understanding about the nuances of the conditions than your opposition. We’ve been practising here for 10 days, we’ve talked about it. So I would like to think that we will be slightly ahead of the opposition on our own surface.”
It’s not that easy. RCB’s dominant batting will be up against Sunrisers’ explosive powerhouse of Travis
Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Liam Livingstone and Heinrich Klaasen among others.