Though the name of the multimillion dollar Indian Premier League suggests that it has more of an Indian flavor in it, this had not been the case so far in the earlier two editions that were played. Indians had to wait for three editions of the tournament to get some Indian flavor in the tournament. In both the earlier editions of the Indian Premier League, the winners happened to be the team which was captained by Australian legends namely Shane Warne who lifted the trophy in the inaugural edition in 2008 and Adam Gilchrist who held the title for Deccan Chargers in 2009.
However, as a consolation the runners up happened to be those teams which were captained by Indian players namely Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2008 and Anil Kumble in 2009 when the Chennai Superkings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore made it there in 2008 and 2009 respectively. And this time in 2010, both the winners as well as the Runners up happened to be teams which were captained by Indian players with Sachin Tendulkar captaining the Mumbai Indians side which finished as runners up and Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Chennai Superkings finishing as winners of the trophy. Likewise, it was an Indian led Chennai Superkings who reached the finals of an IPL twice.
In the earlier editions of the IPL the man with the highest aggregate of runs happened not only to be a non Indian but also was an Australia in Shaun Marsh in 2008 who amassed 616 runs and Mathew Hayden in 2009 who surpassed 500 runs. But, this time it was an Indian in Sachin Tendulkar who returned as the highest run getter in the tournament after he amassed 618 runs to become the highest run getter in the tournament. And, when it comes to the player with maximum number of wickets, India has been lucky enough when this has been owned by an Indian on two occasions.
If not for Sohail Tanvir in 2008, the remaining two editions of the Indian Premier League has seen an Indian in R P Singh and Pragyan Ojha returning as the leading wicket takers in the 2009 and 2010 edition of the IPL respectively. And, when it comes to the players who have scored maximum number of sixes in the tournament, the number stands at a mind blowing 5 among the top ten leading six hitters in the tournament with Robin Uttappa topping the charts with 27 such hits. Others who have made it there are Vinay Kumar, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and Yousuf Pathan.
The batsman who has scored the fastest hundred in an IPL is yet another Indian in Yousuf Pathan who did it against Mumbai Indians when he scored the same in 37 deliveries.
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