When rain failed to dampen the spirit of the people of City of Joy
The eighth edition of the cricketing world’s biggest extravaganza was finally declared open on the night of April 7 at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. The organisers had their worst nightmare come true, when the heavy rain delayed the opening ceremony by almost an hour and a half. Only after the rains subsided, did the show start. It was started with the rendition of the traditional Rabindra Sangeet, ‘Annada Loke’.
There are two things that Indians just love, movies and cricket. And IPL brings both these things together. This IPL ceremony was star studded. With the likes of Hrithik Roshan, Anushka Sharma, Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar getting a huge cheer from the patient fans at the Salt Lake Stadium. But the loudest cheers were reserved for the cricketers. Both Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni got a loud cheer from the crowd, but the player who they cheered for the most was Gautam Gambhir, captain of Kolkata Knight Riders. Although, the rain did play a spoilsport as it delayed the event by one and a half hours, the spirit of the audience endured.
As far as Bollywood stars were concerned, Hrithik Roshan stole the show with his dance performance on the songs from his movies. Hrithik was seen wearing a scarf. This scarf was gifted to him by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee. He thanked her for gifting him the scarf, and said that it was a symbol of love. Anushka Sharma also entertained the audience with her dance performance.
The captains of the eight IPL teams were lead by Chennai Super King captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The captains took the MCC Spirit of Cricket pledge, in front of Ravi Shastri, before posing for a formal group photo. The group included Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Shane Watson, JP Duminy, Shane Watson, George Bailey and Rohit Sharma.
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IPL opening ceremony
