When revolutionary and pedestrian tournament Indian Cricket League (ICL) was transformed to Indian Premier League (IPL), people were in dilemma whether the tournament will be actually successful or not. At that time, T20 cricket was very young inIndia mainly triumphing over the success of the world T20.
Latest teams, auctions, players for sale, icon players in each squad, foreign players sharing the same greenroom with the locals, unknown Indian talent contributing their best in the game added interest and enthusiasm among the masses. But something was lacking in this great event—may be a final thrust.
IPL commenced on 18th April 2008. The Kolkata Knight Riders was one of the most popular teams among the buzz even before the event began. How the Kolkata Knight Riders overcame the Vijay Mallaya’s boys in Royal Challengers Bangalore as evident from the battle between Dravid and Ganguly, one man with various ideas was the entire buzz going around.
Brendon Barrie McCullum advancing the pitch wrapped in a black and gold, what followed the carnage, the white ball flashing across all the direction of the Chinnaswamy stadium, 158 runs from 73 balls—a score that is highly difficult to achieve till date even in the presence of Chris Gayle and other talented skippers hitting the leather out of the ball was brutal but brilliant to watch.
That innings built the platform for the IPL. Even after five years of this wonderful journey, if a viewer turns back for a moment to see the greatness that made passage for this massively successful competition, this innings has to be highlighted. This gentleman was solely responsible for the exhilarating start of the IPL. Since then, the tournament never looked back…
