IPL 2008 [1] Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brendon McCullum

Brendon McCullum of the Kolkata Knightriders scored a century in the very first match of the IPL, against Bangalore Royal Challengers. He scored an unbeaten 158 with 10 fours and a whopping 13 sixes in just 73 balls. His effort helped his team to win the first match.

Answer: Laxmipathy Balaji

Laxmipathy Balaji, playing for the Chennai Super Kings against the Kings XI Punjab, took a hat trick by dismissing Pathan, Piyush Chawla and VRV Singh. He took 5/24 in his four over spell. Amit Mishra was the second to take a hat trick, for Delhi Daredevils against the Hyderabad team Deccan Chargers.

Answer: Sohail Tanvir

Pakistani left arm fast bowler Sohail Tanvir who played for Rajasthan Royals took 6 wickets in the match against Chennai. His bowling analysis read 4-0-14-6. He was the first bowler to take five wickets in the IPL 2008 tournament.

Answer: Brendon McCullum

Kiwi batsman Brendon McCullum was the first in April 2008. The orange cap award is given to the batsman who scored the most runs. The cap would be circulated among the top scorers and at the end of the tournament, the one with most runs would receive the award. Gambhir, Sehwag and Rohit received the orange cap subsequently. To balance the series in favour of the bowlers, a purple cap award was instituted for the bowlers with the highest number of wickets. Shane Warne, the captain of the Rajasthan Royals was the first bowler to receive the purple cap.

Answer: James Hopes

James Hopes playing for the Punjab team. His bowling analysis read 4-0-53-1. Munaf Patel and R P Singh too gave away more than 50 runs in their 4 over spell, but Hopes was the first.

Answer: True

The IPL 2008 adopted the MCC code of conduct for the tournament and the organizers decided to award the 'Kingfisher fair play award' to the team which best complies with the code of conduct. The points are allotted to each team by the umpires based on the criteria like spirit of the game, respect for the opposition, respect for the laws of the game and respect for the match officials.

Answer: Harbhajan Singh

The infamous 'slap gate' incident occurred in the match between Mumbai and Punjab. At the end of the match, Mumbai captain Harbhajan slapped Punjab bowler Sreesanth. Reportedly Sreesanth tried to commiserate with Harbhajan for the loss and a furious Harbhajan slapped him.

After an investigation, Harbhajan was banned for 11 matches, effectively ruling him out of the IPL 2008. He was also banned for five one dayers by the Indian cricket board.

Answer: Referring to third umpire without consulting his colleague

Suspension of players for misconduct is common in International cricket. For the first time, the IPL 2008 saw an umpire being suspended. Firstly umpire Amish Saheba was suspended for speaking to the press about the 'slap gate' incident. Next, it was umpire G Pratap Kumar who was suspended.

In the match between Rajasthan and Kolkata, Graeme Smith claimed a catch, but Ganguly disputed the catch and the umpire Pratap immediately referred to third umpire Asad Rauf who gave it not out. As per the rules, the umpire should have first consulted his colleague at square leg (Rudi Koertzen). Since umpire Pratap didn't do this, he was punished with a two match suspension. Warne was fined for speaking to the press and Ganguly was fined for pressuring the umpire.

Answer: Bangalore

The Bangalore team Royal Challengers did not perform well in IPL 2008 and was criticized by many as being a test team. The owner of the team Vijay Mallya put the blame on the team's Chief Executive Officer, the popular commentator and presenter Charu Sharma. Mallya sacked Charu Sharma and replaced him as CEO with former Indian cricketer Brijesh Patel.

Answer: Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke opted out of the first edition of the IPL at the auction stage, citing personal reasons. Akhtar and Ponting played for Kolkata Knight Riders and Smith played for Rajasthan Royals.