With everyone playing it for the first time, and some yet unsure as to how exactly the Indian Premier League (IPL) will pan out, it got off to a Royal beginning as the Rajasthan Royals (RR) won the inaugural edition of the tournament held in 2008.
RR got off to a losing start in the event as they were defeated by the Delhi Daredevils (DD) in their first game in the tournament. They bounced back sharply and moved from strength to strength, ending up at the top of the table at the end of the league stage. RR won 11 of their 14 league stage matches, finishing with 22 points. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP. now Punjab Kings), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and DD finished second, third and fourth in the table with 20, 16 and 15 points respectively.
Unlike the current play-offs format, the first edition of the IPL had two semi-finals and a final.
RR played DD in the first semi-final, defeating them comprehensively and winning the game by 105 runs. The second semi-final was also one-sided as CSK defeated KXIP by nine wickets.
The final of the first edition of the IPL, however, turned out to be last-ball thriller. CSK posted 163 for five in their 20 overs. The match went down to the wire, but RR did manage to chase down their target, reaching 164 for seven at the end of their 20 overs. That meant that captain Shane Warne, along with his group of players, became the champions of the first edition of the IPL.
Did you know?
The IPL played in 2008 was the very first edition of the tournament.
Rajashthan Royals Shane Watson was declared the player of the tournament in 2008 for his 472 runs and 17 wickets.
Kings XI Punjab’s Shaun Marsh from Australia was the top scorer of the first IPL with 616 runs.
Rajasthan Royals also had the top wicket taker of the first IPL as Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir finished with 22 wickets.
Picture Credit : Google
