The Indian Premier League ( IPL ) created by the cash rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)and approved by the ICC is aTwenty20 competition. This was created in retaliation to Zee's Indian Cricket League is all set to start on April 18.

IPL brought to India on the lines of NBA USA and English soccer's Premier League

With more media hype created from the announcement and roping in brand ambassadors and special auctioning of players the tournament has 59 matches spread over 44 days on a home and away basis. Two matches are scheduled each day under flood lights with the play commencing at 5.00 pm.

Prize money to be blown out for the Indian Premier League will be US $3 million.

Rs.One million (USD 24850) would be awarded to the player of the championsip. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri will choose the "Player of DFLIPL Twenty20 championsip' and DLF will present the cashprize and trophy to the winner.

According to Gavaskar, the IPL would hugely be beneficial to the entire cricketing fraternity in the long run."Choosing a Man of the Match or Man of the Series is always a difficult job, but hopefullywith the years of experience between Tiger,Ravi and myself,Iam sure that our choice for the Man of the series will not disappoint the lovers of the game."

And, what has Ravi Shastri to say? 'I feel we will have a major headache on our hands considering the quality of players on view and I can only hope that one star shines brighter than the others tomake our task easier."

The Match schedule

S. Raghunathan