Inside the Indian Premier League: From 2008 Origins to the 2025 RCB Title and 2026 Franchise Reshuffle

The Indian Premier League began in 2008, when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) launched a professional Twenty20 competition built around city-based franchise ownership rather than the zonal structure that governed Indian domestic cricket. The first tournament ran over 44 days and ended with Rajasthan Royals, captained by Shane Warne, lifting the trophy.

Eighteen seasons later, the same competition operates as a ten-team league playing a double round-robin group followed by knockout football, has spawned a sister women’s competition launched in 2023, and has moved through enough ownership transfers, rebrandings and franchise sales that the original 2008 line-up is barely recognisable. In June 2025 Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Punjab Kings in the final at Ahmedabad, with Virat Kohli lifting the trophy — the former RCB captain who already holds the record for most IPL games played for a single franchise. In March 2026 a U.S.-led consortium paid $1.63 billion for Rajasthan Royals and an Indian-and-overseas group paid $1.78 billion for RCB.

This retrospective walks through that arc as the Encyclopedia Britannica entry presents it: how the league was founded, the format changes that shaped the calendar, the eight original clubs and what became of them, the 2022 expansion, the WPL parallel structure, the 2025 title run, the December 2025 player auction in Abu Dhabi, and the 2026 franchise ownership reset. Source attribution sits with Britannica’s encyclopedia entry, which is the single source for the verified factual record below.

The 2008 launch and what the eight founding franchises became

Britannica’s entry lists eight founding franchises for the 2008 tournament. They were the Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. Of those eight, three keep their original names, two were rebranded, one was dissolved and replaced, and two continue under the same banner they carried in the first season.

The renames are themselves a small history. Royal Challengers Bangalore became Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2024, reflecting the formal rename of the city from Bangalore to Bengaluru that had been official in Karnataka for years. Delhi Daredevils became Delhi Capitals in 2019. Kings XI Punjab became Punjab Kings in 2021. Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals kept their original identities.

The Deccan Chargers are the team that did not survive the original era. The Chargers were based in Hyderabad and won the 2009 final against Royal Challengers Bangalore, but the franchise was wound down by the BCCI in 2012 and replaced by Sunrisers Hyderabad, which now represents the city. The Hyderabad succession explains why Hyderabad appears on the current ten-team list even though the original Chargers franchise no longer exists.

Three of those original franchises have won the league multiple times. Mumbai Indians have been the most successful side in IPL history, Chennai Super Kings have dominated the other half of the 2010s, and Kolkata Knight Riders have added two titles to their tally. Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 2025 win was their first, closing the longest title drought among the founding eight.

How the league reached ten teams and changed its format

The IPL operated as an eight-team competition from 2008 through 2021, with the original eight surviving the Deccan Chargers dissolution because Sunrisers Hyderabad filled the vacated slot. The expansion to ten franchises took effect in 2022 with the addition of Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, both granted new franchise rights by the BCCI ahead of that season. From 2022 the league also reintroduced the double round-robin format, in which every side plays the other nine twice in the group stage before the top four advance to the playoffs.

That format change matters for fantasy and statistical analysis because it doubles the sample size of head-to-head fixtures within a single season. The earlier single round-robin produced ten group matches per side. The double round-robin gives each franchise fourteen league matches, which changes how fantasy managers weigh home-and-away form, head-to-head matchup history, and death-over workloads. Britannica’s entry frames the format shift as part of the structural expansion that followed the addition of GT and LSG.

The ten-team structure also produces a longer calendar. Modern IPL seasons typically run across April, May and into early June for the knockout rounds, which means more matches, more squad rotation, more workload monitoring, and more variance in fantasy points than the earlier eight-team format allowed.

Format, points and the practical shape of a modern season

The current format is straightforward on paper. Ten teams play fourteen league matches each in a double round-robin. The top four in the points table advance to the playoffs, which consist of Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and the Final. The team that finishes first plays the team that finishes second in Qualifier 1, with the winner going straight to the Final and the loser getting a second chance through Qualifier 2. The teams that finish third and fourth meet in the Eliminator, with the winner advancing to Qualifier 2.

Squad construction is built around a salary cap and an auction. Each franchise is allowed a maximum squad size set by the BCCI for that season, with overseas-player slots capped well below the domestic count. Squad vacancies for the 2026 edition were set at 77, with up to 31 of those slots reserved for non-Indian players, according to Britannica’s entry. The player auction is the central mechanism for distributing talent across the ten franchises.

Wicket-taker milestones are tracked the same way batting milestones are tracked in Test cricket. Yuzvendra Chahal became the first player to take 200 wickets in the IPL — the single largest individual bowling landmark in the competition’s history, and one of the few truly league-wide records that survives franchise rebrandings and format changes.

The Women’s Premier League, founded in 2023

The BCCI launched the Women’s Premier League in March 2023 with five franchises, mirroring the city-based franchise model of the senior league. The inaugural WPL final was won by Mumbai Indians against Delhi Capitals, and Delhi Capitals have since been the runner-up in every WPL final the league has staged: 2024, 2025 and 2026. RCB won the 2024 and 2026 finals, MI won the 2025 final.

The pattern of finals results captures a small piece of WPL history. Delhi Capitals reached four consecutive finals without taking one title, an unusual streak for any professional franchise competition. The franchise has been present at every WPL final since the league began, which makes the DC side the WPL’s consistent finalists even without a championship. RCB’s 2024 and 2026 wins, with MI taking 2025, gives three different champions across the first three completed seasons — the same breadth of title distribution the senior IPL produced in its earliest years.

The 2025 title run, and what made Royal Challengers Bengaluru different this time

Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the 2025 IPL Final against Punjab Kings on 3 June 2025 in Ahmedabad, with Virat Kohli lifting the trophy. Kohli is the former RCB captain and the player who already holds the record for most IPL games played for a single franchise. The win closed a drought that had lasted since the league’s 2008 launch — RCB had reached three previous finals (in 2009, 2011 and 2016) without taking one title.

Britannica’s entry treats the result as the headline fact of the 2025 season, alongside the league’s continued financial growth. The Forbes-sourced figure cited in the article — average franchise value of $67 million across 8 teams in 2009 rising to $1.04 billion across 10 teams in 2022, a 24% annualised growth rate — sets the commercial scale against which the on-field results sit. RCB’s 2025 title arrived as the league’s commercial valuation was already in the billion-dollar-per-franchise territory.

For fantasy builders, the 2025 final confirmed two structural patterns that had been developing across earlier seasons. First, ownership of pace bowling at the death had become the highest-variance skill in T20 cricket, and the side that controlled the 19th and 20th overs usually controlled close matches. Second, a settled Indian core, rather than a star-heavy overseas quartet, was the more durable path to a deep playoff run. Both patterns shaped how the December 2025 auction was framed by franchise managements.

The December 2025 Abu Dhabi auction and the 2026 squad build

The player auction for the 2026 IPL edition was scheduled for 16 December 2025 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with 77 squad vacancies to fill — up to 31 of those slots reserved for non-Indian players. The IPL shortlisted 350 players from more than 1,300 who had registered for the auction, according to Britannica’s entry.

The headline mechanics are familiar. Each franchise arrives with a fixed salary purse. The auction runs through the 350 shortlisted players in a defined order, with bidding opening at a base price set by the player and rising in set increments until the franchises stop bidding or the player’s reserve price is cleared. Franchises retain the right to use the Right to Match (RTM) card for players they released earlier, which adds a second bidding round once a franchise’s released player enters the auction.

The 350-to-77 ratio is the number that captures how selective the auction is. For every player who clears the shortlist and reaches the auction table, there are roughly four who registered but did not make the cut. The unsold list at the end of the auction is the league’s parallel story, since it determines which domestic players remain available for mid-season replacements and for the next cycle’s shortlist.

For the 2026 edition, the auction was framed by two parallel pressures: the December 2025 ownership transfers of Rajasthan Royals and RCB (covered below), and the standard squad-rebuild cycle after a season ends. New ownership groups tend to clear inherited squads aggressively and pursue marquee signings to reset fan expectations, which can push base prices higher for the players who fit a marquee role.

The March 2026 ownership reset: Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru

In March 2026, ahead of the 19th IPL edition, two founding-era franchises changed hands. A U.S.-led consortium acquired 100% of Rajasthan Royals’ franchise rights for $1.63 billion, and a group of Indian and overseas businesses bought Royal Challengers Bengaluru for $1.78 billion. Britannica’s entry frames both transfers as part of the same month’s reset, which is the cleanest way to read the timing: two of the 2008 founding eight — and the 2025 champion — moved into new ownership within weeks of each other.

The two clubs also represent different parts of the league’s commercial geography. Rajasthan Royals were among the original eight franchises, won the 2008 first edition under Shane Warne, and have remained a top-half side across most seasons without the same title density as Mumbai Indians or Chennai Super Kings. Royal Challengers Bengaluru are the league’s most-followed franchise by fan-base size, held the longest title drought among the founding eight until 2025, and have traditionally carried the highest brand visibility per-rupee of revenue in the competition.

Two transactions in the same month also reset the ownership map for the 2026 season. The new RR consortium took over a side that had reached the playoffs regularly under the previous ownership and could choose to retain or release most of the squad ahead of the December 2025 auction. The new RCB consortium inherited the 2025 champions and, with them, the highest expectations in the league.

The combined $3.41 billion transaction value for two franchises alone — on top of the billion-dollar average valuation Forbes had recorded for 2022 — is the clearest illustration of how much the league’s commercial ceiling has moved since the 2008 launch. Britannica’s Forbes-cited 24% annualised growth rate translates, over 17 years, into roughly 40x value growth on average. The March 2026 transfers sit comfortably above that trend line.

The current ten-team map

The current IPL field, as Britannica’s entry records it, runs: Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils), Gujarat Titans, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings (formerly Kings XI Punjab), Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (successor to Deccan Chargers). Of those ten, four are post-2008 additions — GT and LSG joined in 2022, and Sunrisers Hyderabad took over the Hyderabad slot after the 2012 Chargers wind-down.

• 2008 — eight founding franchises launch the league; Rajasthan Royals win the first final under Shane Warne.
• 2009 — Deccan Chargers win the second edition, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final.
• 2012 — Deccan Chargers franchise is wound down and replaced by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
• 2019 — Delhi Daredevils rebranded as Delhi Capitals.
• 2021 — Kings XI Punjab rebranded as Punjab Kings.
• 2022 — Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants added; league expands to 10 teams and reintroduces the double round-robin format.
• 2023 — Women’s Premier League launches with five franchises; Mumbai Indians win the inaugural final.
• 2024 — Royal Challengers Bangalore officially renamed Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
• 3 June 2025 — Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Punjab Kings in the IPL Final at Ahmedabad; Virat Kohli lifts the trophy.
• 16 December 2025 — IPL auction for the 2026 edition held in Abu Dhabi, 350 players shortlisted from 1,300 registrations.
• March 2026 — U.S.-led consortium buys Rajasthan Royals ($1.63bn); Indian and overseas group buys RCB ($1.78bn).

Individual records that survived the format changes

Format changes have not erased the league’s individual landmarks. Yuzvendra Chahal’s 200-wicket milestone is the cleanest bowling reference point in IPL history — the first player to clear that mark, and the only one to do so under the current rules. Virat Kohli’s appearance record for a single franchise predates the 2025 title and reflects almost two decades of one-club loyalty in an era when franchise movement was the norm. The most-runs aggregate is held by Kohli himself, although that figure moves each season.

On the franchise side, Mumbai Indians’ five titles remain the benchmark. Chennai Super Kings have the second-highest title count. RCB’s 2025 win brought them off zero and into the championship column for the first time, and the Kolkata Knight Riders hold two. Sunrisers Hyderabad hold one. Gujarat Titans won the 2022 inaugural ten-team edition. The remaining franchises have yet to win a title under their current branding.

Britannica’s entry does not run an exhaustive record list, so deeper stat work — most sixes in an innings, highest partnership, fastest century, best death-over economy — sits outside the verified factual ceiling here. The records above are the ones the source dossier explicitly confirms.

The Forbes franchise-value trajectory, 2009 to 2022

Britannica cites Forbes reporting that the average IPL franchise value grew from $67 million in 2009 (across 8 teams) to $1.04 billion in 2022 (across 10 teams) — an annualised growth rate of 24%. The 2009 figure reflects the league in its second season, when the commercial framework was still being built. The 2022 figure reflects the ten-team expansion year, with new franchises entering at the higher end of the valuation range and the existing eight having had 14 years of revenue growth, broadcast-rights cycles and brand equity to compound.

The 24% annualised growth rate is a useful benchmark for any reader trying to put the March 2026 transfer values into context. Rajasthan Royals at $1.63 billion and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at $1.78 billion are both above the 2022 average, and both transactions closed roughly four years after the Forbes snapshot. The headline direction of the curve has not changed.

Two structural drivers explain most of the curve. First, the IPL’s central revenue pool — media rights, title sponsorship, licensing — is shared across the franchises under a formula the BCCI administers. As the central pool has grown, each franchise’s share has scaled with it. Second, the local revenue each franchise generates — ticketing, in-stadia sponsorship, regional brand partnerships — has expanded with stadium quality, fan base and the league’s overall visibility.

The WPL finals run and what it says about women’s franchise cricket

Across the WPL’s first four completed seasons, Delhi Capitals have been present at every final and have not won one: losing 2023 to Mumbai Indians, 2024 to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 2025 again to MI, and 2026 to RCB. That is a four-final losing streak across the league’s entire completed history, a record no men’s IPL franchise has ever come close to matching. RCB and MI have traded the three titles since the inaugural season, with RCB taking 2024 and 2026 and MI taking 2025.

The DC women’s record is also a reminder of how concentrated the WPL has been. With five franchises at launch, the league moved quickly to a structure in which two or three sides dominate the playoffs. Expansion talks have circulated since 2024 but are not part of the Britannica source dossier, so the verified WPL scope stays at the original five-team founding roster.

What the eighteen-season arc adds up to

Three threads run through the Britannica entry in sequence. The first is the league’s structural growth: from eight founding franchises to ten, from a single round-robin to a double round-robin, from a domestic-only broadcast market to a global rights portfolio, from a 44-day tournament to a multi-month season with a parallel women’s competition.

The second is the franchise churn. Six of the ten current franchises operate under names they did not carry in 2008. Three are rebranded, two were dissolved and replaced (Deccan Chargers / Sunrisers Hyderabad; the new RR and RCB ownership groups replacing earlier ones), and one was a new city entry from the 2022 expansion. The IPL has had more identity shifts across its eighteen seasons than most major professional leagues experience across twice that span.

The third is the commercial scale. Average franchise value 24% annualised growth, billion-dollar-plus franchise transfers in 2026, a parallel women’s competition already running finals across multiple cities, and a December auction that draws 1,300 player registrations to fill 77 squad slots. The 2008 experiment, viewed from the Britannica entry’s verified factual record, is now a permanent feature of the global cricket calendar.

What the next data points will be

Three verified next checkpoints sit just outside the Britannica entry. First, the 2026 IPL season opener, which is the first on-field test of the new RR and RCB ownership groups’ squad-building decisions from the December 2025 auction. Second, the 2026 WPL final result, which extends or ends Delhi Capitals’ four-final losing streak. Third, the next Forbes valuation cycle, which will show whether the March 2026 transfer values anchor a new franchise-value floor for the rest of the ten-team field.

For fantasy cricket readers, the immediate utility of the Britannica record is the league’s stability. The same ten franchises, the same format and the same auction structure are in place for the 2026 edition that were in place for 2025. Captain-pick maths, salary-cap planning, and head-to-head ownership all build on the same scaffolding.

For more match-by-match coverage and squad analysis as the 2026 season opens, explore the latest cricket news from the Come Sports India desk.

Frequently asked

When was the Indian Premier League founded? The IPL was established in 2008 by the Board of Control for Cricket in India as a professional Twenty20 franchise league.

How many teams currently play in the IPL? Ten franchise teams compete each season in a double round-robin group followed by a knockout playoff.

Which team won the first IPL final? Rajasthan Royals, captained by Shane Warne, won the inaugural 2008 final.

Who won the 2025 IPL final? Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Punjab Kings on 3 June 2025 in Ahmedabad, with Virat Kohli lifting the trophy.

When was the IPL expansion to ten teams? The league expanded from eight to ten teams from the 2022 season, with Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants added and the double round-robin format reintroduced.

When was the Women’s Premier League launched? The WPL was launched in March 2023 with five franchises. Mumbai Indians won the inaugural final against Delhi Capitals.

Which player was the first to take 200 IPL wickets? Yuzvendra Chahal is the first player to take 200 wickets in the IPL.

What changed hands in the March 2026 franchise transfers? A U.S.-led consortium acquired 100% of Rajasthan Royals’ franchise rights for $1.63 billion, and an Indian and overseas business group bought Royal Challengers Bengaluru for $1.78 billion.

Where was the 2026 IPL player auction held? The 2026 IPL player auction was scheduled for 16 December 2025 in Abu Dhabi, with 77 squad vacancies and up to 31 non-Indian player slots.

Which franchise names changed since 2008? Royal Challengers Bangalore became Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2024. Delhi Daredevils became Delhi Capitals in 2019. Kings XI Punjab became Punjab Kings in 2021. Deccan Chargers were dissolved and replaced by Sunrisers Hyderabad after 2012.