IPL opening ceremony

It will probably be for the first time in their lives that Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, former India captains and now rival skippers in the Indian Premier League (IPL), will walk out for the toss in a stadium plunged in darkness.

Minutes after a "short, sharp and sweet" opening ceremony on Friday to launch the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 tournament, the organisers are planning to switch off all lights at the Chinnaswamy Stadium before the first match between Dravid's Bangalore Royal Challengers, the hosts, and Ganguly's Kolkata Knight Riders, the visitors, which begins at 20.00 local time. "Then, the spotlights will come on, and focus on the two skippers as they walk out for the toss," Charu Sharma, the Royal Challengers' chief executive, told Cricinfo.

"We are pushing to have the toss under spotlights and are waiting for permission from local authorities, considering the number of people who will be there at the stadium when the lights will be switched off. This is something that has not really been tried before," he said.

After the toss, a couple of players from the fielding side will be "miked up" to chat directly with the TV commentators during the match. "Another attraction for the TV audience, but this has been done before, I guess," Sharma said.

However, the "most poignant moment" of the 45-minute opening ceremony starting 18.30, Sharma said, would be when all the captains gather mid-pitch to jointly read out a pledge reaffirming the IPL's faith in the spirit of cricket. "There will also be speeches by Ray Mali, the ICC president, Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, and Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman."

The rest of the ceremony will be a "slick" blend of fireworks, stilt walkers, aerial gymnasts, performers in a bubble suspended over the ground and some Bollywood glitter with the presence Shah Rukh Khan, also the co-owner of the Kolkata team, and Preity Zinta, co-owner of the Mohali franchise. "Shankar-Ehsan-Loy (the Bollywood music directors) will be the central performers who will keep the crowd enthralled throughout the ceremony even as the other performers go through their acts," Sharma said.

Bangalore is also banking on 12 cheerleaders from the Washington Redksins, the 'First Ladies of American Football', to draw more fans to the stadium. "The entire exercise is to have the right balance of glamour and cricket. Usually, cricket is not associated with such ceremonies, and this will be a novelty. At the same time, we would not want the genuine cricket fan to get frustrated waiting for the game to start. Our aim is to present a spectacle that's short, sharp and sweet, which reflects the spirit of the IPL," Sharma said.

Bangalore Royal Challengers, which is owned by Vijay Mallya, the business tycoon, is playing a key role in organising the opening ceremony on their home ground in association with the local cricket association and the IPL.


Indian Premier League - 1st match
Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kolkata Knight Riders at Bangalore, Apr 18, 2008

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, on 18 April 2008 - d/n

Bangalore Royal Challengers squad:
Dravid (C), Abdur Razzak, B Akhil, KP Appanna, J Arunkumar, wicketkeeperMV Boucher, S Chanderpaul, B Chipli, wicketkeeperSP Goswami, W Jaffer, SB Joshi, JH Kallis, Z Khan, V Kohli, P Kumar, A Kumble, Misbah-ul-Haq, AA Noffke, DT Patil, DW Steyn, LRPL Taylor, R Vinay Kumar, CL White

Kolkata Knight Riders squad:
SC Ganguly (C), S Kaul, AB Agarkar, RB Banerjee, A Chopra, DB Das, CH Gayle, DJ Hussey, Iqbal Abdulla, M Kartik, SS Lahiri, wicketkeeperBB McCullum, Mohammad Hafeez, RT Ponting, CA Pujara, WP Saha, Salman Butt, I Sharma, LR Shukla, wicketkeeperT Taibu, Umar Gul, Yashpal Singh