Ravi Shastri said this about IPL: Former India coach Ravi Shastri believes the Indian Premier League (IPL) had quality from the beginning but the 2009 event in South Africa took it to the next level and generated interest in the tournament overseas.

The second IPL was held in South Africa due to general elections in India :-

The second IPL was held in South Africa due to general elections in India. IPL started 15 years ago on this day and Shastri was part of the governing council of the league then.

Recalling the early days of IPL, Shastri said:-

Recalling the early days of the IPL, Shastri said, “If you look at all the players who participated, the quality of cricket was so good that the league took off.” But the final stamp on it was when it was organized in South Africa. The interest in IPL in South Africa was similar to that in India, which took the cricket world by surprise.

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Ravi Shastri further said:-

Shastri said, by that time cricket fans around the world had started picking their favorite teams. What you used to see in football back then started happening in the IPL from the second season onwards.

He said, English Premier League has been going on for years which has teams like Arsenal and Manchester United. But in two years in IPL people started choosing Mumbai Indians; Chennai Super Kings or Royal Challengers Bangalore as their favorite team.

The inauguration of the IPL took place in a haphazard manner :-

Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum played a blistering inning of 158 off 75 balls against RCB in the inaugural IPL match in 2008 for Kolkata Knight Riders. Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja spoke about how his experience changed from being a part of the winning Rajasthan Royals team in 2008 to being a part of the multiple-winning Chennai Super Kings team.

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