2022 Indian Premier League

The 2022 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 15 or for sponsorship reasons, TATA IPL 2022) was the fifteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament was played from 26 March 2022 to 29 May 2022. The group stage of the tournament was played entirely in the state of Maharashtra, with Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune hosting matches.

The season saw the expansion of the league with the addition of two new franchises. Chennai Super Kings were the defending champions, having won their fourth title during the previous season.

In the final, Gujarat Titans beat Rajasthan Royals, by seven wickets to win their maiden title in their first season.

Background
Although earlier reports suggested the addition of two more teams in the previous season,  the BCCI delayed the expansion of the league until 2022. In August 2021, it was confirmed that two new franchises would join the league in 2022, with a shortlist of locations including Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Dharamshala, Guwahati, Indore and Lucknow.

In a closed bidding auction held in October 2021, RPSG Group and CVC Capital won the right to the two new franchises. RPSG paid inr 70900000000 for the Lucknow franchise, and CVC won the Ahmedabad franchise for inr 56250000000. The Lucknow team was named as Lucknow Super Giants in January 2022, and the Ahmedabad team was named as Gujarat Titans the following month.

Vivo pulled out as the title sponsor of the tournament on 11 January 2022, having previously withdrawn as sponsors in 2020 and later signing a contract until 2023. The Tata Group was later named as the replacement title sponsor for the remainder of Vivo's contract.

Personnel changes
Each existing team was allowed to retain a maximum of four players, with the two new teams were allowed to select a maximum of three players before the auction. The retained players of the existing eight teams were announced on 30 November 2021, and the two new teams named their selections on 22 January 2022.

The player auction to complete team squads took place on 12 and 13 February 2022 in Bangalore. Ishan Kishan was the most expensive buy of the auction, bought by Mumbai Indians for inr 152500000. The most expensive overseas player was Liam Livingstone, bought by Punjab Kings for inr 115000000.

Format
With the introduction of the new teams, a ten-team format was created based on minor opponent rule, consisting of 74 matches with each team playing 14 matches. The ten teams were divided into two groups of five. BCCI has announced in the group stage each team will be playing twice against the teams in their group and against the team in the same row in the other group; against the remaining four teams in the other group, each team will play only once. The format is similar to the one used in 2011, although in 2022 the teams were drawn into groups according to seeding, instead of being drawn randomly.

Venues
Three venues in Mumbai and one in Pune hosted the league stage matches. The original schedule for the tournament had 20 matches each at the Wankhede Stadium and the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, with Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium and the MCA International Stadium in Pune hosting 15 matches each. Every team were scheduled to play four matches each at the Wankhede Stadium and the DY Patil Stadium, and three matches each at the Brabourne Stadium and the MCA Stadium

Due to COVID-19 cases within the Delhi Capitals camp, two matches were relocated from the MCA International Stadium in Pune.

Incident
Pravin Amre was suspended for a game while Rishabh Pant and Shardul Thakur were fined after disagreeing with an umpire over a ball which was not called as a no ball during a match between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals. Pant, captaining Delhi Capitals, called his batsmen off the ground with the intention of abandoning the game in protest.

League stage
The schedule for the group stages was published on the official IPL website on 6 March 2022.

Playoffs
The final took place on 29 May 2022. The full schedule for the playoffs was announced on 23 April 2022.

Most runs

 * Orange Cap

Most wickets

 * Purple Cap

End of the season awards

 * Source: