The second edition of Indian premiere league or IPL is scheduled to kick off on April 10. Now considered to be one of the costliest sporting extravaganzas, it will end on 24th may, 2009. The same 8 teams will battle against each other in a series of matches, out of which 4 teams will feature in the two semifinals and a final. Like in the 2008 edition, the format remains the same this year too.

However, in this year’s edition, there have been some changes, pertaining to the participating team’s bench strength. For instance, the number of foreign players in the teams have been increased from 8-10, although in the final 11, the number remains the same i.e. 4.  Moreover, in this year’s season, the IPL will also feature players from England. They will be available to the teams for a period of 21 days, after which they will have to resume their tour of West Indies. This means that fans and lovers of cricket will be having the most of fun. In fact, it is said that the event will be definitely a runaway success and will bring in large revenue for the organizers as well as the sponsors and the franchisees.

The eight participating teams of IPL 2009 are Rajasthan Royals, Delhi daredevils, Royal challengers of Bengaluroo, Mumbai Indians, kolkata knight riders, Chennai super kings, Hyderabad Deccan chargers and Kings X1Punjab.

In this years edition, a lot of bollywood stars and top industrialist and business tycoons have associated themselves with all these teams. Shilpa Shetty has teamed up with Rajasthan royals to be their brand ambassador. However, unlike the previous year, where Akshay Kumar was seen supporting the Delhi dare devils, will not be available this season.

With twenty -20 cricket soaring the popularity charts, the teams would certainly like to cash in on the mania. The profit margin is understood to be quite, reportedly running in to crores. Even last year, Kolkata knight riders had made a net profit of approximately 13 crores.

There is already speculation that the 2010-2011 edition of IPL will be much bigger and grandeur. A few more teams from Gujarat and Kanpur will join the IPL. Therefore, it can be assumed that in the coming years, IPL will soon turn out to be a major and most awaited event in the sporting calendar.

Summary

IPL or Indian premiere league has certainly turn out be a major sporting event. The 8 participating teams are all star studded and bring in the glory associated with cricket. To know more about IPL, go through the article.