June 2, 2008Despite its share of controversies and the heady mix of glamour and cricket, the Indian Premier League's first edition would be best remembered for the triumph of the underdog wherein a retired spin legend inspired the cheapest franchisee of the event to an unexpected title win.
Shane Warne, considered by many as the best captain never to lead Australia, led a pack of unheralded players to a Rs 4.8 crore prize cheque, thus rounding off 44 days of a soap opera that had everything -- from drama to emotion -- for prime-time viewers.
An idea that many said was born out of the BCCI's need to counter the rebel Indian Cricket League, IPL was a success story even before a ball was bowled when sponsors and TV channels queued up to get a stake in what was to become one of the richest domestic leagues in any sport.
And when it actually took off, Lalit Modi's brain child only grew bigger with fans readily lapping up the idea of city-based rivalries even if that meant cheering the dismissal of perhaps their most revered icon Sachin Tendulkar.
The cricket dished out was equally exciting and the foreign recruits along with some exciting new Indian faces enthralled the packed stadias of the eight cities where the franchises were based. Source: http://specials.rediff.com/cricket/2008/jun/02sld2.htm
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