IPL 2015: Opening Ceremony Date, Start Time, Live Stream and Cricket Preview
For those cricket fanatics still lamenting the end of the 2015 World Cup, fear not, because the Indian Premier League is poised to begin once again this week.
While there will be excitement aplenty to savour when the first ball is bowled on April 8, there is a glitzy opening ceremony to savour first, with some entertaining acts planned and a clutch of Bollywood stars set to be in attendance.
Here’s all the information you need on where to catch the event and a closer look at what you can expect from this year’s opening ceremony.
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Date: Tuesday, April 7
Time: 7:30 p.m. (Local), 3 p.m. (BST)
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK)
Bollywood Stars to Kick-Start 2015 IPL
There will be famous faces aplenty as the 2015 edition of the IPL officially get underway. Film stars Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Shahid Kapoor and Anushka Sharma will all be at the showpiece event, while music will come from singer and composer Pritam.
The latter admitted on Twitter he’s looking forward to playing a part in the event:
In addition to those famous stars, all eight captains of the teams involved will also be in situ, with Gautam Gambhir—the skipper of reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders—putting the trophy back into play to officially signal the beginning of a new season.
It’ll certainly be a colourful occasion and one that’ll stir anticipation ahead of the cricket getting underway. But the majority of focus will be on the opening game of the tournament, that will see the Kolkata outfit face the Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens ground.
As we can see here courtesy of the tournament’s official Twitter account, the Knight Riders won a thrilling final to take the 2014 title, with Wriddhiman Saha putting together a superb knock to help Kolkata over the line against Kings XI Punjab:
Gambhi’s men will be among the favourites to triumph again, but there are some quality sides involved in this year’s competition.
The Chennai Super Kings have arguably the strongest line-up on paper, with MS Dhoni, Brendon McCullum and Ravichandran Ashwin a few standout names from a squad bristling with immense quality.
The most entertaining team at the tournament could well be the Royal Challengers Bangalore however. With Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers forming the spine of a formidable batting line-up, hard hats could be needed for any spectator brave enough to sit in the stands for their games.
They have some fine bowling too, but disappointingly for the Bangalore side, they will be without the World Cup’s joint-most prolific wicket-taker Mitchell Starc for the first few weeks of the competition, per Freddie Wilde of ESPNcricinfo:
The opening ceremony will certainly stir emotions for those in attendance ahead of the action getting started. The calibre of figures set to show up for the Eden Gardens showpiece is an emphatic indicator of just how much gravitas the IPL commands in India and across the globe. But the real stars of the show will be the men representing the eight teams battling it out for glory.
With memories of an engrossing World Cup still fresh to the cricketing stratosphere, the IPL has come at a perfect time. So sit back and enjoy this opening ceremony safe in the knowledge that there are almost two months to come that’ll be jam-packed with the highest calibre of cricket.
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