How a national debacle gave birth to the Indian Premier League

The year 2007 will forever be remembered as a landmark year for Indian cricket. When we think back to 2007, we will always think of the historic T20 World Cup triumph in South Africa as the standout moment. (How a national debacle gave birth to the Indian Premier League)

But another significant event had happened earlier that year in the Caribbean. India crashed out ignominiously at the group stage of the World Cup and had the country in meltdown.

Cricket has always been more than just a sport to our nation. But the brutality in which the media and the BCCI exposed the Indian team was surprising. The sacking of the coach was just a small formality that was done before he even landed back in India.

A new list of ‘what you could do and what you could not do’ was handed out to every Indian player. Several senior cricketing figures believed that the BCCI was too lenient with the players and that some changes were required to save Indian cricket.