On April 18th, 2008 IPL (Indian Premier League) was started and no one would have imagined that this league will turn out to be so successful in coming years that every international cricketer wants to be part of IPL in some way or the other.
Credit should also be given to one man whose blistering innings of 158 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the inaugural match of the season gave IPL a different dimension and he is none other than Brendon McCullum who initially played for Kolkata Knight Riders and then went on to play for so many other teams.
The first match of the inaugural edition of the IPL saw the Royal Challengers Bangalore winning the toss and electing to bowl first. Little they did know, that a Kiwi batsman will take them for cleaners.
As Brendon McCullum and Sourav Ganguly, both the openers of KKR gave a flying start as they put together 61 runs in 5.2 overs. But Ganguly(10) was sent back to the pavilion by Zaheer Khan but McCullum continued to march on.
Hammering the bowlers all over the park and he brought his century in style in 16th over. As soon he reached 100 runs mark he was given standing ovation by KKR owner Shahrukh Khan.
After reaching 100 runs landmark he did not bog down under pressure and went to add 58 runs in the remaining four over and scored 158 runs.
Thanks to his blistering innings KKR posted 222/3 in 20 overs. KKR had no issue in defending that mammoth total as RCB in reply scored only 82 runs and that match was easily won by KKR by 140 runs.
Ajit Agarkar was the pick of the KKR bowler as he took three wickets and gave away 25 runs.
The inaugural match gave a slight glimpse of how this tournament will proceed successfully in years to come.
As the first time players were auctioned to take part in the competition but in the end, the match settled all the myths and gave everyone satisfaction it is indeed about cricket.
However, what seems to be the perfect start for KKR it was not the case as KKR could not manage to reach the semifinals and Rajasthan Royals with inexperienced team apart from there captain Shane Warne lead them to win the inaugural edition of IPL.
To date, 12 edition of IPL has been played where Mumbai Indians have won IPL four times whereas Chennai Super Kings Winning it three times and KKR won the title twice under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir.
