The Indian Premier League (IPL) will enter its 20th year in 2027, and there are huge celebrations planned to mark 20 years of the most popular T20 league in the world. BCCI’s brand IPL is also amongst the top 5 most popular and richest sporting leagues in the world, just behind the NFL and the NBA.
The IPL began in 2008, and there have been countless moments that continue to live in the minds of the fans. From CSK and MI’s five IPL wins to RCB finally breaking their drought of IPL titles, today we will see five of the greatest moments of the IPL that defined the league.
Here are the 5 greatest moments that defined the IPL:
- Rajasthan Royals’ 2008 IPL win
Rajasthan Royals took a big gamble as they picked Shane Warne in the inaugural IPL auction in 2007 and then made him captain and head coach of the side. RR was filled with youngsters who Warne guided and groomed throughout the tournament. RR played wonderfully well, winning 11 of their 14 games and qualified for playoffs, where they defeated Delhi Capitals to reach the final.
In the final, Warne’s RR defeated MS Dhoni’s CSK in Navi Mumbai and became the first-ever IPL champions. Their win showed that even teams with no big names can do the unthinkable and win the IPL while giving India young stars like Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan.
- MI winning two IPL finals by one-run margin
Mumbai Indians are the only franchise that has won two IPL finals by a margin of just one run. Their first win came against Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL 2017, and the second win came against Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2019. A Krunal Pandya special of 47 helped MI to 129/8 in the 2017 IPL final in Hyderabad. In response, Mitchell Johnson’s three and Jasprit Bumrah’s two wickets helped MI win a thriller by 1 run, despite Ajinkya Rahane’s 44 and Steve Smith’s 51.
Two editions later, MI faced CSK in the IPL 2019 final, also in Hyderabad. Batting first, MI posted 149/8 with Kieron Pollard making 41 and Quinton de Kock scoring 29, while Deepak Chahar took 3/26. In response, Shane Watson’s 80 kept CSK in the chase until he got run out. Lasith Malinga, who had gone for 49 runs in his 4 overs, kept his nerves with 2 runs required off the final ball and trapped Shardul Thakur LBW to give MI their fourth IPL title.
- Virat Kohli’s 973-run IPL season
Virat Kohli had a superlative and superhuman IPL 2016 with the bat. He captained Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to the final of the tournament in a dominating fashion. He was unstoppable with the bat, scoring a record 973 runs in 16 games at an average of 81.08 and a strike rate of 152.03. He hit four centuries and 7 fifties, hitting 83 fours and 38 sixes.
Virat Kohli, along with AB de Villiers (687 runs), ran riot with the bat, and Kohli even made a century in a game after suffering a split hand and getting stitches on the same hand. Kohli’s run record of 973 runs remains intact in the IPL, with Shubman Gill coming in second with 890 runs in IPL 2023.
- RCB winning back-to-back IPL titles
Royal Challengers Bengaluru was one of the three original IPL teams with Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings to have never won the Indian Premier League title. However, this changed as RCB made Rajat Patidar their captain and made the team bat-heavy, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, and Krunal Pandya leading the bowling attack.
Virat Kohli led the run charts with 657 runs as RCB remained at the top of the points table and crushed the opposition to win their first IPL title in 2025, defeating Punjab Kings in the final in Ahmedabad. RCB management had made a strong statement ahead of IPL 2026 that they would defend their title, and once again, Virat Kohli led the way with 675 runs as RCB won back-to-back IPL titles by defeating Gujarat Titans in the final.
- Brendon McCullum’s 158* gave IPL the best start possible.
Lalit Modi and the BCCI took a big risk by organising the Indian Premier League, and they all wanted the IPL 2008 to start with a bang. Kolkata Knight Riders clashed with Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 18 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. RCB captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Sourav Ganguly and Brendon McCullum opened the innings for KKR, and despite a slow start, McCullum went after the bowling, reaching his fifty in 32 balls and accelerating to reach his ton in 53 balls. However, McCullum wasn’t done with scoring the first century of the IPL in the first game ever and went on to make 158* in 73 balls with 10 fours and 13 sixes, as KKR made 222/3 in 20 overs. KKR won the game by 140 runs, and McCullum’s 158 gave the kind of launch IPL needed, giving it the required headlines to put it on the road to becoming the monster it is today.
