When was the last time you did something for the first time??goes an airline ad. But with IPL, the firsts don?t seem to end. Eight teams, 128 players and 59 matches in 44 days. That, in nutshell, is the DLF Indian Premier League, which kicks off next week. However, behind all the glamour and the monies that have been poured into the tournament, IPL is a mammoth logistical challenge.

IPL is bigger?in terms of sheer logistics activities?than the ICC World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Here?s how: To begin with, IPL has booked 12,000 hotel nights, 20,000 air tickets and will move at least 1000 people every day. Even during the last World Cup in the West Indies, the total movement over 54 days was six times and in IPL the teams and the officials will be moving 44 times.

The Commonwealth Games 2006, which was a 10-day multi-sport event, involved around 1200 people. The organisers got around two years time in advance for the preparation. During the tournament, all local facilities were used for production and therefore there was no kit shipment or kit movement.

Similarly, during the Asian Games, the organisers got two years? time for organising the 15-day event that involved around 1,500 people. This time, all the production facilities were shipped in but there was no movement of the kits.

Finally, the World Cup Cricket 2007 organisers got around 18 months to plan and organise the six-week-long event. It had four production units and all of them were shipped in. And there were seven production kit movements.

In comparison, the IPL organisers got about only eight weeks of planning time to organise the six-week tournament. Including the players, a total number of 3,000 people who will be ferried from one part of India to another.

Of the four production units, three have come from the UK. Around 44 production kits will be moved through air. A cargo plane will transport the kits, undergoing 44 legs in 44 days of cricket?often with 2 legs a day. Handling these details is sports marketing company IMG.

As far as camera specifications go, there will be five cameras in IPL matches with 50:1 lenses and three ?super slo? cameras with 70:1 lenses.