After three seasons that saw three different champions (Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural edition, Deccan Chargers in 2009, and Chennai Super Kings last year), the IPL resumes with the 2011 avatar almost like a new league. With the three-year contract ending after the third edition, franchises could opt to retain key player(s) and bid for those who were available for auction. This resulted in hectic bidding, with several big-name players either moving to other pastures or entering the event for the first time (or worse still, in the case of Saurav Ganguly, being outright ignored).
Also, with the addition of two new teams (Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala, the official monikers of these two), the format has been slightly modified, with the each team playing five matches home-and-away and two matches apiece at home and away with the remaining four teams. In other words, the fixture distribution looks like this:
Sahara Pune Warriors
Home-and-away: DD, DC, KXIP, MI, CSK
Home: Kochi, KKR
Away: RCB, RR
Delhi Daredevils
Home-and-away: DC, KXIP, MI, Pune, Kochi
Home: KKR, RCB
Away: RR, CSK
Deccan Chargers
Home-and-away: KXIP, MI, Pune, DD, KKR
Home: RCB, RR
Away: CSK, Kochi
Kings XI Punjab
Home-and-away: MI, Pune, DD, DC, RCB
Home: RR, CSK
Away: Kochi, KKR
Mumbai Indians
Home-and-away: Pune, DD, DC, KXIP, RR
Home: CSK, Kochi
Away: KKR, RCB
Chennai Super Kings
Home-and-away: Kochi, KKR, RCB, RR, Pune
Home: DD, DC
Away: KXIP, MI
Kochi Tuskers Kerala
Home-and-away: KKR, RCB, RR, CSK, DD
Home: DC, KXIP
Away: MI, Pune
Kolkata Knight Riders
Home-and-away: RCB, RR, CSK, Kochi, DC
Home: KXIP, MI
Away: Pune, DD
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Home-and-away: RR, CSK, Kochi, KKR, KXIP
Home: MI, Pune
Away: DD, DC
Rajasthan Royals
Home-and-away: CSK, Kochi, KKR, RCB, MI
Home: Pune, DD
Away: DC, KXIP
I'm not sure how this can be considered a real league, but given the congested nature of international commitments, this is probably the best that could be done. For a detailed fixture list ("inspired" from the FIFA 2010 World Cup match tracker devised by Marca), click here.
In terms of players, frenetic would be an understatement. There were so many transfers and new entrants that it would be best to treat this as a all-new version and check out the squads afresh:
