Premier Badminton League (PBL) is a team

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

league operating in India. Sportz & Live Private Limited (Sportzlive) has the rights to operate and execute the Premier Badminton League. The inaugural season of PBL was held from 2 to 17 January 2016.

Delhi Dashers Delhi Dashers (formerly known as the Delhi Acers) was one of the Badminton teams competing in the Premier Badminton League (PBL). Delhi Dashers have been a part of the PBL since its inception and their best finish arrived in the Season 2 (2016), ...

(formerly Delhi Acers) defeated Mumbai Rockets in the final to clinch the title. The second season began on 22 December 2016 and came to end on 14 January 2017 with the

Chennai Smashers Chennai Superstarz (formerly known as Chennai Smashers) is a franchise badminton team based in Chennai that plays in the Premier Badminton League (PBL). The team has won the PBL title once, has been in the semi-finals of the league twice in th ...

headed by

P. V. Sindhu Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (born 5 July 1995) is an Indian badminton player. Considered one of India's most successful sportspersons, Sindhu has won medals at various tournaments such as the Olympics and on the BWF circuit, including a gold at th ...

clinching the title in the finals. The third season began on 23 December 2017 and came to end on 14 January 2018 with Hyderabad Hunters headed by

Carolina Marin Carolina may refer to: Geography * The Carolinas, the U.S. states of North and South Carolina ** North Carolina, a U.S. state ** South Carolina, a U.S. state * Province of Carolina, a British province until 1712 * Carolina, Alabama, a town in ...

emerging as the champions. Bengaluru Raptors won the last two editions in 2018-19 and 2020, becoming the only team to win the title twice.

Organisation

Tournament format

Teams play each other in round-robin format in league stage. Each team plays six ties in the league stage in which each tie consists of five matches. The matches played are two Men's singles, Women's singles, Men's doubles and Mixed doubles. Each of these matches are best of 3 games. Teams earn one point for each regular match win; in addition, each team must choose a Trump match, where a win is worth two points, and a loss subtracts one point. After league stage, the top four teams in the table will qualify for the

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

stage. The winners of semi-finals goes into the final, in which the winner will be crowned the PBL champions.

Player auctions

The player auctions are usually held at the end of each year for the subsequent season. Professional players from around the world enter the bidding where teams buy them. The league has helped players more than double their annual earnings from prize money in the year 2018. According to the prominent Danish player Victor Axelsen, this was a crucial part of their annual income. Each franchise has a purse of and the maximum a team can spend on a single player was in the most recent 2020 auction.

Fifth Season

The fifth season auctions were held on 26 November 2019 in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

. Each franchise had a purse of , and were not allowed to spend more than on a single player. The highest paid players were the Taiwanese Tai Tzu-ying and Indian

, both sold for the maximum amount of to Bengaluru Raptors and Hyderabad Hunters respectively. Indian doubles player

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (born 13 August 2000) is an Indian badminton player. He and his partner, Chirag Shetty, are the first men's doubles pair from India to be ranked inside the top 10 of the BWF World Ranking, with a career-high ranking of ...

was the next highest, bought for by

Chennai Superstarz Chennai Superstarz (formerly known as Chennai Smashers) is a franchise badminton team based in Chennai that plays in the Premier Badminton League (PBL). The team has won the PBL title once, has been in the semi-finals of the league twice in th ...

. 2020 being the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

year, key players like

Saina Nehwal Saina Nehwal (; born 17 March 1990) is an Indian professional badminton player. A former world no. 1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in 2009, it was only in 2015 ...

Kidambi Srikanth Srikanth Kidambi (born 7 February 1993) is an Indian badminton player. A former world no. 1, Kidambi was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 2018. and the Arjuna award in 2015. In 2021, he became the first Indian t ...

, Victor Axelsen and others have decided to skip the season. Some of the players were traded between Mumbai, Chennai and Pune teams ahead of the season.

Franchises

Currently seven franchises compete in the league. There were nine franchises in the previous season( 2018–19).

Current Franchises

Seasons

First Season (Season 1)

In 2016, the league was renamed from Indian Badminton League to Premier Badminton League, and still followed same format. This first season of the PBL started on 2 January 2016 and concluded on 17 January 2016. The four teams to proceed to the semi-finals were

Awadhe Warriors Awadhe Warriors is a badminton team owned by Sahara Adventure Sports Limited a group company of Sahara India for the Premier Badminton League (PBL). The team's home ground is Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, Lucknow. The team is coached by An ...

and

Mumbai Rockets Mumbai Rockets is a franchise badminton team representing Mumbai in the Premier Badminton League (PBL). The franchise is owned by Bombay Badminton Pvt. Ltd. The team's home ground is The National Sports Club Of India, Mumbai. The team is capta ...

. Delhi beat Chennai 4-3 and Mumbai Rockets beat Awadhe Warriors 3-1 to proceed to the final. Delhi Dashers won the tournament after beating Mumbai Rockets 4-3.

Second Season (Season 2)

The second season of the Premier Badminton League started on 1 January 2017 and concluded on 14 January 2017. It followed the same format as the earlier league, and the four teams to proceed to the semi-finals were

and Hyderabad Hunters.

beat

4-1 and

beat Hyderabad Hunters 3-(-1) to proceed to the final.

won the tournament after beating

4-3.

Third Season (Season 3)

The third season of the PBL started on 23 December 2017 and concluded on 14 January 2018. Hyderabad Hunters were crowned the champions after they beat Bengaluru Blasters 4-3 in the final tie.

Fourth Season (Season 4)

The fourth season of the PBL was played from 22 December 2018 to 13 January 2019. In the fourth season Bengaluru Raptors took their first title after beating

in the final.

Fifth Season (Season 5)

The fifth season of the PBL started on 20 January 2020 and concluded on 9 February 2020. Seven teams participated in the season. Delhi Dashers and Ahmedabad Smash Masters did not participate in this edition. Total prize money of was announced by Sportzlive for the tournament. Bengaluru Raptors beat Northeastern Warriors 4-2 in the finals to win their second title. It was also their second consecutive title in PBL.

Tournament seasons and results

Five seasons of PBL have been played since the first season in 2016. They are:

Teams' performances

Team rosters

Broadcast rights

In 2013 STAR Sports India purchased the broadcasting rights for India.

References

{{Sports leagues of India Badminton tournaments in India Professional sports leagues in India 2013 establishments in India Sport in India Sports leagues established in 2013