The IPL Fair Play Award recognizes exemplary sportsmanship throughout the league’s matches. All the teams earn points based on their adherence to the spirit of cricket and respect towards the opposing teams and on-field umpires. This special title reflects a team’s outlook and conduct towards a match and sets an example for other to follow too.
Since the league’s commencement in 2008, the Indian Premier League has transformed the face of T20 cricket, and raised the levels of batting, bowling, and fielding all together with each subsequent season. Numerous accolades have been introduced by the BCCI, the association responsible for the smooth conduct of IPL year after year, to honor both individual brilliance and collective achievements.
In the same light, utmost importance is also given to maintain the integrity and fairness of all the matches. The distinguished ‘Fair Play Award is bestowed upon the franchise team that displays the greatest level of sportsmanship and fairness throughout the tournament. The ten-point system determines the winner, and the onus of it lies with the umpires of the day.
Fairplay Award Criteria:
- Maximum of 10 points per team per match.
- Four points for adherence to the ‘spirit of the game’.
- The remaining six points are equally divided amongst three criteria:
- Respect towards the opponent’s team
- Adherence to the laws of cricket
- Respect towards the umpires
Each criterion is worth two points. These two points indicate a “good” performance. One or zero point indicate an “average” or “poor” performance, respectively.
It comes as no surprise that the Chennai Super Kings, or CSK leads this award category with a record of six wins until now. Following them closely are other teams which include the Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, and Gujarat Titans.
Let us look at the Top five teams that have rightfully earned this title in all of IPL’s history so far.
- Chennai Super Kings (06) – Probably the most successful team in terms of having won the maximum number of Fair Play Awards is the five-time IPL winner, Chennai Super Kings. In the previous 17 seasons, CSK has won this title a whopping six times – in the 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015 editions respectively.
- Sunrisers Hyderabad (03) – The next in the list is the southern sensation team, Sunrisers Hyderabad. This franchise has won the title thrice, in 2016, 2019 and 2024 being the latest one.
- Rajasthan Royals (03) – The third position has been bagged by Rajasthan Royals, the team formerly owned by Shilpa Shetty-Raj Kundra. This pink-jersey team has claimed its authority on the ‘Fair Play’ award twice independently – in 2012, 2021 and a joint-win in 2022 with Gujarat Titans.
- Mumbai Indians (02) – Another franchise with the joint most-wins record, winning the IPL trophy five times is the Mumbai Indians. Owned by the Ambani family, this explosive team has been awarded the coveted title twice again – in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
- Gujarat Titans (01) – The newly appointed team that joined the league in 2022 won the award in its inaugural year itself. It was jointly shared with the Rajasthan Royals team. The team owned by CVC Capital, is the new franchise after Gujarat Lions, went defunct a few years ago.
Other teams who have won it once include Punjab Kings (2009) and Delhi Capitals (2023). It is insightful to note that some of the teams that have never been awarded the ‘Fair Play’ recognition are teams with huge loyalty bases – Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
With this year’s edition about to commence from March 21, it will be interesting to find out which franchise claims the award fair and square.
By: Tulika Agarwal
