Indian Premier League which is known as IPL was launched by BCCI - The Borad of Cricket Control of India, much on the lines of English Premier League (Soccer) and the National Basketball League (NBA) as played in the US.

IPL is a professional Twenty20 cricket league created and promoted by the BCCI and backed by the ICC. In all probability ICC will accommodate IPL in the next Cricketing Calendar. The IPL Twenty20 league is set to debut in April 2008, with eight teams comprising a minimum of 16 players each. The league will last for 44 days and will play 59 matches including two semifinals and one final.

IPL works on a franchise-system based on hiring players and transfers. These franchises were put for auction, where the highest bidder won the rights to own the team, representing a particular city in India.

The first auction for the same took place on January 24, 2008 and the total base price for the auction was $400 million. The auction went on to fetch $723.59 million which is itself a sort of record.

The Mumbai franchise Team was bided and owned by Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and so far the most expensive franchise - fetching $111.9 million closely followed by Vijay Mallya's United Breweries which also paid an astronomical sum of $111.6 million for the Bangalore franchise of IPL

Hyderabad Media house Deccan Chronicle won the Hyderabad Franchisee of the IPL for $107 million, while Ness Wadia and her girlfriend Preity Zinta a Bollywood actress bagged the IPL Mohali Franchisee for $76 Million. India Cements' from Chennai Chennai franchise cost $91 million.

Another leading star of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan made his presence felt with his company, Red Chilies Entertainment buying out the Kolkata Kolkata Franchisee for $75.09.

GMR, a Delhi based infrastructure development group bagged the ownership of the Delhi team for $84 million and the Emerging Media, consisting of its CEO Fraser Castellino, Manoj Badale and none other than Lachlan Murdoch bagged the rights for the Jaipur franchise for $67 million.

IPL also sold rights to various properties to various interested groups.

The Exclusive IPL Title Sponsorship Rights was sold to DLF Universal - another infrastructure Group based out of Delhi at a whopping Rs 200 crore (over $50 million) for the next five years.

IPL Television Rights was sold to a consortium consisting of India's Sony Television network and Singapore-based World Sports Group bagged the rights of the IPL for a duration of ten years at cost of $1.026 billion.

The first round of auction of 77 players took place in Mumbai. Team India ODI and Twenty20 skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds emerged the costliest Indian and overseas players while other Star Players had their fare share from the auction.

In the IPL League which starts on April 18th, 2006 - all the teams will play the other seven teams home and away. There will be no tie for any game. On the basis of points the top four teams at the end of the group stages will reach the semi-finals. The first match will be played at Bangalore between IPL Team Bangalore and IPL Team Kolkata while the Finals will happen on 1st June 2008. Complete IPL Match Schedule here.

IPL rules makes it mandatory for all teams to have at least four players from their respective Areas and four Under-22 players. These players could be an icon player - from team India or a Ranji player or an U-22 player.The limit for overseas players in any team is eight while only four would be able to take the field in a match. IPL Teams here

For more details on IPL teams, updates, auction prices, home field - click here to check the teams section in the IPL Cricket Forum The first IPL League 2008 is being sponsored by the DLF construction group and will start on 18th April - 2008 at Bangalore. Pepsi, Coke, Kingfisher Airlines, Hyundai, Vodafone are some of the main sponsors for the IPL League. The inaugural match is schedule between Shahrukh Khan's team Kolkata Knight Riders and UB Groups Bangalore Royals and will be played at Bangalore.

Full DLF IPL Match Schedule of the match can be found here in the IPL Cricket Forum. The IPL Cricket Forum also have a user submitted

Gallery section which hosts IPL images, IPL videos, IPL team logos, IPL anthems and IPL Wallpaper. The gallery has a user section and also a public section. Users can have their own private or public gallery with unlimited uploads. The IPL Gallery can be found here in the IPL forum and the IPL Videos in this section.

The IPL Forum also runs many polls in many sections - even you can design and run a poll. The main and unique part of this forum is the Prediction game for the IPL league. Here you can select winners for all the IPL matches and take a chance to win cash rewards. The entire tournament is divided into five rounds. Two initial rounds for individual matches, nest two rounds for the IPL Semi-finals, the fifth and final round for the IPL League Final. Each round opens after the first is complete. Instructions on the IPL prediction game can be found here. The IPL Prediction Game page can be found here.

The IPL Cricket Forum also offer various IPL news widgets and gadgets for your website and computers. The IPL Cricket Toolbar helps you to stay updated on IPL news from your desktop at office or home or anywhere. The IPL News widget can be used on your website or blog to attract and keep your visitors for long. Please check our IPL Widgets Page for codes and how to download or use them. IPL Cricket Forum is the destination and fansite for all IPL and Cricket Lovers Worldwide. This is a user designed and user generated site with many more features and facilities. Please explore and browse through the site and enjoy. Cheers.