Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

IPL is planning a grand opening on Friday the 18th when the Knight Riders meet the Royal Challengers at Bangalore. With Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid facing each other as rivals for the first time - it will indeed be a spectacular scene.

The opening ceremony will kick off at starting 18.30, when all the captains will come together at mid-pitch to jointly read out a pledge reaffirming the IPL’s faith in the spirit of cricket. There will be speeches by Ray Mali, the ICC president, Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, and IPL Chairman Lalit Modi.

The opening ceremony will consist of fireworks, stilt walkers, aerial gymnasts, performers in a bubble suspended over the ground and of course with a major Bollywood presence with Shah Rukh Khan the owner of Kolkata team - Knight Riders and some of his friends, Preity Zinta, co-owner of the IPL Mohali franchise - Kings XI Punjab. Shankar-Ehsan-Loy the music directors from Bollywood will perform throughout the ceremony even as the other performers go through their acts. And your guess is right - the key role behind sich an extravagant opening is played by none other than the Liquor Baron Vijaya Mallaya.

The most dramatic moment comes after the end of ceremony when all the floodlights are switched off at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the two skippers walk out for the toss just under spotlights.This is really something unique and will add sufficient drama and excitement just before the match - a kind of Roman arena where gladiators use to sweat out in a fight till the end atmosphere.

After the toss, a couple of players from the fielding side will talk directly with the TV commentators during the match. However we have seen this before and is good value for the Tv Audience.

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