The 2010 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 3 or the 2010 IPL, was the third season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament was hosted by India and had an estimated television audience of more than 200 million people in the country.^[1] It was played between 12 March and 25 April 2010.^[2] It was also the first ever cricket tournament that was broadcast live on YouTube.^[3] The final four matches of the tournament were screened in 3D across movie halls in India.^[4]

The tournament was won by the Chennai Super Kings, who defeated the Mumbai Indians in the final played at Mumbai. The purple cap went to Pragyan Ojha of Deccan Chargers, while the orange cap and the player of the tournament award were awarded to Sachin Tendulkar of the Mumbai Indians. Saurabh Tiwary was declared the U-23 success of the tournament, while the Chennai Super Kings won the Fair Play.

Five new venues were introduced for the third edition of IPL.^[5] These included Nagpur, Cuttack, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Dharamsala. Nagpur, Cuttack and Mumbai amongst them hosted the home games for Deccan Chargers, and Ahmedabad and Dharamsala shared some of the home matches of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab respectively. Additionally, Hyderabad, which hosted all Deccan's home games in 2008, did not host any games this season. This was attributed to the possibility of unrest due to a Telangana state succession.

The 60-game tournament also featured a third-place playoff between the losing semi-finalists as a qualifier for the Champions League and also saw the induction of ICL players.^[5] Both semi-finals were scheduled to be hosted in Bangalore but instead were played in Mumbai. The final and the third place playoff games were played at Mumbai and the season ended five days before the World Twenty20 in West Indies.^[5]

Chennai	Mumbai	Mohali	Kolkata
Chennai Super Kings	Mumbai Indians	Kings XI Punjab	Kolkata Knight Riders
M. A. Chidambaram Stadium	Brabourne Stadium	PCA Stadium	Eden Gardens
Capacity: 50,000	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 30,000	Capacity: 90,000
Ahmedabad	Chennai Mumbai Mohali Kolkata Ahmedabad Bangalore Cuttack Nagpur Dharamsala Jaipur Navi Mumbai Delhi		Bangalore
Rajasthan Royals			Royal Challengers Bangalore
Sardar Patel Stadium			M. Chinnaswamy Stadium
Capacity: 54,000			Capacity: 45,000
Cuttack			Nagpur
Deccan Chargers			Deccan Chargers
Barabati Stadium			Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground
Capacity: 45,000			Capacity: 40,000
Dharamsala	Jaipur	Navi Mumbai	Delhi
Kings XI Punjab	Rajasthan Royals	Deccan Chargers	Delhi Daredevils
HPCA Cricket Stadium	Sawai Mansingh Stadium	DY Patil Stadium	Feroz Shah Kotla
Capacity: 21,000	Capacity: 30,000	Capacity: 55,000	Capacity: 48,000

On 17 April, before the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore & Mumbai Indians started 2 bombs went off at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, while another was defused. The game on the day did continue, however, after an hour's delay. As a consequence both semi-finals were moved out of the city to DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.^[6] A third device was defused on 18 April 2010. All three devices were hidden in the stadium's perimeter wall and the two explosions were believed to have injured 15 people. Initial investigations suggested that the explosives used in the devices were locally made and were of low intensity.^[7] Former cricketers Sir Ian Botham, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh, and Shaun Pollock urged the players not to give in to terrorism by opting out of the league.^[8]

11 players were sold at the player auction held on 19 January 2010 in Mumbai. This was from a list of 97 registered players, which was then shortlisted to 66.^[9] West Indian all rounder Kieron Pollard and New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond were the highest bid players in the auction who were bought for $750,000 but not before their prices went in the silent tie breaker round. Kieron Pollard was bought by Mumbai Indians and Shane Bond by Kolkata Knight Riders.^[10]

The rules and format were the same as the previous season with the exception of the strategic timeout. Each innings had two mandatory timeouts of two-and-a-half minutes each. The fielding captain must take one at the end of over six, seven, eight or nine, and the batsmen at the end of over 13, 14, 15 or 16.^[11] Points in the group stage were awarded as follows:

According to rules, if a match ended with the scores tied, the tie is broken with a one-over-per-side Super Over.^[12] The rules of the Super Over are as set out in the ICC Standard Twenty20 International match playing conditions (1 October 2009 version).^[13]

1. Team with most runs wins
2. If equal, the team with most number of boundary sixes throughout the entire match wins
3. If still equal, the team with most number of boundaries throughout the entire match wins
4. If still equal, the team taking the most wickets throughout the entire match wins
5. If still equal, a count-back from the final ball of the Super Over eliminator shall be conducted. The team with the higher scoring delivery shall be the winner.
6. If still equal, by coin toss.

(C) = Champion; (R) = Runner-up; (3rd) = Winner of third place playoff.
Note: Top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
Note: The winner, runner-up and winner of the third place playoff qualified for the 2010 Champions League Twenty20.

^[15]

The leading run scorer of the league phase wore an orange cap when fielding.

Full Table on ESPNcricinfo

The leading wicket taker of the league phase wore a purple cap when fielding.

Full Table on ESPNcricinfo

• Official Website
• Tournament website on ESPNcricinfo