The Stumpdle Cricket & IPL blog
Stories and stats about Cricket and the Indian Premier League, the sport behind Stumpdle, our daily IPL guessing game. New to it? Play today's puzzle or read how to play.
A short history of the IPL
The Indian Premier League (IPL) launched in 2008, created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to bring franchise-based Twenty20 cricket to a mass audience. City-based teams, an annual player auction and prime-time broadcasts turned a three-hour format into appointment viewing. Rajasthan Royals, captained by Shane Warne, won that first season, an underdog story that hinted at how unpredictable the league would become. More than fifteen seasons later, the IPL is the best-known cricket competition on earth, and the inspiration behind Stumpdle, our daily IPL guessing game.
How many players are in the IPL?
Each IPL season features ten franchises, and every squad carries roughly 18 to 25 contracted players, so several hundred cricketers are on IPL books in a given year. Squads blend Indian talent with a capped number of overseas stars (a maximum of four overseas players can feature in any playing eleven). That mix of uncapped youngsters, domestic heroes and international icons is exactly what makes a cricket guessing game like Stumpdle fun: the answer could be a household name or a rising star you only half-remember from last season.
The growth of the IPL
The league has grown from eight teams to ten, with Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants joining in 2022. Its media rights have sold for record-breaking sums: the 2023–2027 television and digital rights reportedly went for around US$6 billion, making IPL matches some of the most valuable broadcast inventory in world sport. The league's overall brand value has been estimated at well over US$10 billion. That growth is why so many fans search for a Wordle for IPL, a quick daily cricket puzzle to scratch the itch between matches.
IPL vs other sports leagues
Measured by value per match, the IPL is frequently ranked second only to America's NFL among the world's sports leagues, ahead of the English Premier League, Major League Baseball and the NBA on a per-game basis. It achieves that in a season lasting only about two months, which makes each fixture enormously valuable. For a competition built on Cricket, a sport still fighting for space in some markets, being the second-highest money-making league on the planet is a remarkable story, and a big part of why an IPL guessing game resonates with fans worldwide.
Fun IPL stats
Cricket is a game of numbers, and the IPL has produced some jaw-dropping ones. Chris Gayle's unbeaten 175 remains among the highest individual T20 scores ever made in the league. The Orange Cap rewards the season's leading run-scorer and the Purple Cap its leading wicket-taker, while records for most sixes, fastest fifties and biggest run chases are rewritten almost every year. These attributes (role, team, age, debut season, trophies) are the same clues Stumpdle uses in its daily cricket guessing game, so learning the stats genuinely helps you win.
Cricket and colonisation
Cricket travelled the world through the British Empire, taking root across India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and beyond. What began as a colonial import became, over time, a powerful expression of post-colonial identity, nowhere more so than in India, where Cricket is now a cultural force and the IPL is its glittering shop window. The sport's history is inseparable from that of empire, and its present is defined by the nations that once received it now leading it.
Cricket vs baseball in the USA
Cricket and baseball are cousins, both bat-and-ball games with deep shared roots. In the 19th century Cricket was actually popular in America; the first international cricket match, USA versus Canada, was played in 1844, decades before baseball became the national pastime. Baseball's rise after the Civil War pushed Cricket to the margins in the States, but interest is returning: Major League Cricket launched in 2023, and the USA co-hosted the 2024 T20 World Cup. For American fans discovering the game, a lightweight daily IPL guessing game is a friendly way in.
How is the IPL designed?
The IPL's format is built for drama. Ten teams play a double round-robin, after which the top four enter a playoff designed to reward the best sides: Qualifier 1, the Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and then the Final. Squads are assembled at an annual auction with a salary cap, player retentions and a Right-to-Match card, which keeps rosters churning season to season. Innovations like the strategic timeout and the Impact Player rule (introduced in 2023) keep the on-field product evolving. All that structure produces the rich, varied player pool that makes Stumpdle, a Wordle for IPL, possible.
The economics of the IPL
The IPL's money comes from several streams: centrally sold media rights, title and associate sponsorships, gate receipts, and merchandising. A large share of central revenue is pooled and distributed to the franchises, giving even smaller-market teams a stable financial base. The player auction turns that money into a live market for talent, and the BCCI's IPL earnings help make it the wealthiest cricket board in the world. During its season the league is estimated to add meaningfully to the Indian economy through tourism, advertising and hospitality: Cricket as a genuine economic engine, not just entertainment.
Ready to play?
Stumpdle is a free daily cricket guessing game, or think of it as a Wordle for IPL. Guess the mystery IPL cricketer in seven tries, with a fresh player every day. Start today's game, browse the FAQ, or try a past puzzle in Second Innings.