IPL 9 officially begins after glitzy opening ceremony

Arun S Kaimal

ByArun S Kaimal, SportsCafe Editor

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The ninth edition of the cash-rich IPL kicked off on Friday after a dazzling Bollywood-style opening ceremony at the National Sports Club of India in Mumbai. Bollywood stars Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif and Jacqueline Fernandez appeared with their popular numbers to entertain the audience.

Similar to the last eight editions, the opening ceremony was more about Bollywood than cricket with popular Hindi songs and film stars taking to the stage to entertain the crowd at the stadium and also the millions watching on TV. Jacqueline Fernandez's dance group Kings United, who were the bronze medallists at the World Hip Hop Championships, danced to their popular numbers before the cricketers arrived on the stage.

All the eight captains - Zaheer Khan (Delhi Daredevils), Suresh Raina (Gujarat Lions), David Miller (Kings XI Punjab), David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Gautam Gambhir (Kolkata Knight Riders), Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore), M S Dhoni (Rising Pune Supergiants) and Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians) - signed the MCC Spirit of Cricket pledge to start IPL 9 formally in front of Ravi Shastri, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla and BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur.

Bollywood once again took the centre stage after that with Katrina Kaif dancing to her popular songs from Dhoom 3 and Bang Bang. But the star performer was surely Dwayne Bravo, who made the audience dance to the tunes of the ‘Champion’ song.

If the popular Bollywood numbers were not enough, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Ranveer Singh made sure that the whole cricketing world had more of the Hindi songs with dazzling performances. American electronic music group Major Lazer took to the stage for the last act of the day with all the stars dancing to their tunes to finish off the glitzy opening ceremony.

(Also, take a look at our all-time IPL XI)

The first match of the ninth edition of the IPL will take place on April 9 with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Dhoni’s Rising Pune Supergiants at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

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