Indian Premier League (IPL), a brainchild of BCCI or to be precise its vice-president Lalit Modi, is a Twenty20 league sanctioned by ICC. Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Dare Devils and Rajasthan Royals are the first eight franchise teams that took part in the tournament.

In the year 2011, Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala joined as new franchisees in the IPL. These two sides are owned by Sahara India and Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd.

Each team will have a pool of 16 players, with a max of eight overseas players and a min of four U-22 players besides a min of four players from the catchment area as is fixed by the governing body.

Vijay Mallya, Preity Zinta, Shah Rukh Khan, Venkataram Reddy, Subroto Roy, Shilpa Shetty, Nita Ambani, N Srinivasan, Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd and GMR group are the owners of the various IPL franchises, with each owning one.

IPL teams are coached by veterans like Ray Jennings, Michael Bevan, Stephen Fleming, Dave Whatmore, Geoff Lawson, Geoff Marsh, Darren Lehman, Robin Singh, Greg Shipperd and Shane Warne.

Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pietersen, Yuvraj Singh, Goutam Gambhir, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Rahul Dravid, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Albie Morkel Andrew Symonds, Kumara Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, VVS Laxman, J P duminy, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, Venugopal Rao, S Badriinath, Shane Watson, Ajit Agarkar and Shane Watson are the major players taking part in the season of the IPL.