From IPL Finals to Your League: How Six Seasons Shaped My Sports Photography Playbook
For most people, the IPL final is an evening on TV. For an official IPL photographer, it feels like an entire season compressed into one day. I’ve lived that day from the boundary rope for years, but it’s the stretch from the 2020 IPL final in Dubai’s bio-bubble to the 2025 showpiece that truly built my playbook as a sports photographer—and now as the founder of Ace Images, a dedicated sports photography agency for leagues and franchises.
“Champion player kissing the IPL trophy during the title celebrations, shot from close range.” Photo: Saikat Das / Sportzpics for IPL
I’m not on the IPL 2026 roster and that’s a deliberate choice. Instead of chasing one more season, I’m taking everything these six finals taught me—about pressure, process and storytelling—and using it to help new leagues, tournaments and franchises build their own visual identities. This story is not just nostalgia; it’s the blueprint behind how Ace Images now works with sports properties that want a plug-and-play photography partner.
The 2020 season moved to the UAE and into a strict bio-secure bubble. For about 60 days, my world shrank to three points on a map: hotel room, bus, stadium. Every day or every second day meant a Covid test, and every day we had to feed our health data into an app before we were cleared to work. We walked into an IPL final where the stands were almost empty, the rules were rewritten and the only thing that felt familiar was the trophy.
“MI Team members and Owner Mrs. Nita Ambani (centre) in gloves gathered around the IPL trophy and showing 5th IPL Trophy during the bio-bubble final.” Photo: Saikat Das / Sportzpics for IPL
With crowd noise gone, celebrations muted and our movement restricted to fixed positions, photography became a different sport. Instead of relying on roaring stands, I hunted for quieter details: gloved hands around the trophy, half-celebrations where players stopped themselves from hugging, support staff clapping towards rows of empty seats. Even breathing had to change—I learned to hold my breath every time I raised the camera so my mask wouldn’t fog the viewfinder in the middle of a decisive frame.
By 2021, isolation had turned into focus. The season started in India, broke down under Covid, then restarted in Dubai, and all we really had was the job: shoot, file, sleep, repeat. In a nine-photographer official team, I later discovered that roughly thirty percent of all downloads were my frames, with the other seventy percent shared across eight colleagues. Editors who had only been names in an inbox started walking up and saying, “We’ve been using your pictures for years.” That was the first time I realised my work was quietly leading a lot of coverage.
"RCB team, 1st time Champions of Tata IPL 2025, posing with the IPL trophy in front of fireworks and a packed stadium." Photo: Saikat Das / Sportzpics for IPL
The 2022 season felt like someone turned the sound and colour sliders back up. After two-plus years of restrictions, fans were allowed back in larger numbers and, by the final, the stadium felt like an IPL final again. You could sense the difference straight away: louder dives, sharper celebrations, more spring in every step. For me, the frame suddenly widened to include flags, banners, painted faces and waves of emotion in the stands.
“MS Dhoni lifted Ravindra Jadeja of Chennai Super Kings and other Players, supporting stuff in yellow kit celebrating a last-over win in front of an ecstatic crowd.” Photo: Saikat Das / Sportzpics for IPL
By 2023, everything around the tournament looked “normal” again—full crowds, open travel, packed calendars—but our workload on final night was anything but normal. Beyond the cricket, we were responsible for sponsors, pre-show acts, owners, VIPs and the post-match show. There is no such thing as “I’ll edit later” in that environment; you shoot, select, edit, caption and deliver within seconds, or the moment disappears from the news cycle.
“Champions in TATA IPL 2024 , KKR squad on the podium surrounded by fireworks and glitter during the trophy ceremony.” Photo: Saikat Das / Sportzpics for IPL
In 2024, international agencies and in-house media teams were all back at full strength, so our images had to be both better and earlier than everyone else’s. One senior journalist wrote to say, “Your emails always come first—not by one second, but by ten or fifteen.” In live sport, that gap is huge. It proved that the invisible parts of my job—the way I build culling workflows, structure folders and caption files—are just as valuable to a league as the pictures themselves.
The 2025 season pushed that responsibility one step further. Our agency head couldn’t be at the ground for the final, so he messaged me: “You are the best, and that’s why I rely on you. I’m in the room; you are on the field. You cannot miss anything.” For the first time, I wasn’t just shooting the final, I was effectively leading delivery on the ground—talking directly to clients, assigning angles, deciding which stories went out first. That night we pushed out around 250 images in real time, and our frames kept landing first with editors across the world.
KKR Owners and Bollywood Actor Sharukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan Posing with their 2nd IPL Trophy. Photo: Saikat Das / Sportzpics for IPL
this is me at work in different stadiums at ipl matches as official photographer. thanks photographers for taking my images.
I’m not chasing another IPL badge right now. I’m taking what six finals taught me about pressure, calm and storytelling and using it to help new leagues, tournaments and franchises build their own visual identities. Through Ace Images, you’re not just hiring a photographer; you’re getting a battle-tested system for live delivery, archives and campaign-ready visuals—from first ball to trophy lift.
If you’re planning a league, relaunching a tournament or simply want your existing competition photographed at this level, let’s talk. I’d love to hear what you’re building and show you how we can design a season-long photography plan around it.
→ Talk to Saikat Das & AceImages.in about your league Photography.