In the first season of the Indian Premier League, five players were chosen as the icon players
As we are all well aware, the Indian Premier League was a magic show in 2008 when it was inaugurated. T20 was still a new format coupled with fancy jerseys, music, and cheerleaders and topped with tonnes of moolah – in short, everything new to the Indian cricket fans who had never seen a tournament like this.
Several other prize categories were added, such as the purple cap, orange cap, fair play award, most valuable player, and so on. Among all these was the moniker of the icon player.
An icon player was the one who was allowed to represent his own city and wasn’t part of the IPL auction 2008. Five players became the icon players in the inaugural season, and they were:
The inaugural season for the icon players didn’t go as they planned. For some, their batting didn’t do the talking, whereas a few others played well, but their team couldn’t get the desired result.
The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), under Ganguly’s captaincy, were a strong team with legendary names on paper. However, their performances soon faltered as the team finished sixth on the table. Ganguly, with the bat, had a decent outing, finishing the 13th highest run-scorer of the tourney with 349 runs in 13 matches.
For Sachin Tendulkar, the season was a mixed cauldron. He missed the first seven matches of the tourney, whereas in the remaining seven, he scored 188 runs. Mumbai finished in the fifth position, missing the top-four spot by merely one point.
Over the years, Rahul Dravid has become the face of Rajasthan Royals, but his opening stint in the IPL was with his hometown Bengaluru. Rahul Dravid was the 12th highest run-getter of the tourney with 371 runs in 14 matches. However, Royal Challengers Bengaluru ended in the seventh position.
Out of all the legends, Virender Sehwag was the only batter who finished in the top ten run-getters of the tournament with 406 runs in 14 matches. Even in terms of the team’s success, Delhi did not win the tournament but at least finished in the top four.
Yuvraj Singh could manage only 299 runs despite playing 15 matches. He also picked three wickets, but his individual performance was below par. However, Kings XI Punjab finished in second place on the IPL table but did not win the tourney.
