Gilchrist wins toss and Deccan fields: Opening Ceremony of IPL 2010 ends at Dr. DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai

8.00 pm IST

Toss-time. Adam Gilchrist, Sourav Ganguly and that man Shastri again. Harsha Bhogale interviewing Ganguly. A terse Sourav, if I can add.

Harsha asks, “Who will captain Kolkata in the next game?” Hahaha!

Adam wins toss in today’s game between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders and elects to field first. One must remember that Gilly had smashed a century chasing against Mumbai Indians on this very ground.

7.50 pm IST

The ceremony has actually ended. Lionel Richie’s was the final performance. And we are now back to Extraa Innings. And Sidhu. And a surprisingly fringe-haired Sameer Kochar.

7.40 pm IST

The ceremony seems to have ended.

Oh no, the silence was only a lull before the storm. There is someone with a laser gun in the hand. Or is it a sword. Seems something totally different. But, there goes the laser again! Seems to be a favourite of all ceremonies!

7.30 pm IST

Whoa, how could I forget. It is JAI HO time. But the best part of that is the graphic illusion of all the cricket in an outline-form on the stadium. Looks out of the world. Extraordinary.

Remember Karz? The old one with Rishi Kapoor and how he reminds Simi Garewal of their past with a song and a background full of those incidents. Something similar!

On the side, it has been almost an hour, since we heard Sidhu speak. I get this feeling (again) that he is ready to vomit. The words.

7.25 pm IST

The Heat is ON! That is song they are playing with a background video of all the moments from the past in the IPL. And there comes Deepika Padukone jiving to…I got a feeling…Tonight’s going to be a good night….!!

I get that feeling too!

BTW, I also get that feeling, she looks a tad uncomfortable too. ‘Twist’ is next from her…

7.15 pm IST

Who is next? No-one, funny looking, multi-hued gentlemen and ladies walking throughout the ground. Laser effect there. Mind you, it is dark, so, the colours look dazzling.

Talking of Colours, they (the channel) are also involved with the IPL this time around. Khatron ke Khiladi and an IPL Rock Show or something like that.

7.00 pm IST

Modi welcomes us all with a speech that, as expected, goes on for much more time than those at DY Patil can take. Mercifully, the show is declared open by him. I mean, the show for opening ceremony. The cricket is still an hour away. At least.

UB40 starts with Falling in Love, followed by Mamma Mia by Abba. Thoughtful lyrics for the tournament coming back to India – ‘My my, just how much I missed you!’

6.45 pm IST

Shashank Manohar welcomed on stage by Ravi Shastri. He welcomes all of them.

Lalit Modi is next up on stage. This may go on and on!

But before that, they welcome MCC’s Spirit of Cricket. Shastri is almost poetic. Is Ricky Ponting listening to this speech?

6.40 pm IST

All the team captains have walked out on to the ground. The swearing-in ceremony may happen any time soon! The whole thing looks colourful, I must say!

In the meantime, Sidhu has spoke about everything from his driver, to beauty and roses. Amidst all that, he also puts his money on Kings XI Punjab to win it. Oh and I forgot; the other guest is Arun Lal. He says his favourite is Kolkata. What a cliche.

6.35 pm IST

So there is Sachin Tendulkar. With his new-look uniform. Says those golden stripes are the Bandra-Worli Sea Link! He is looking forward to watching UB40 in the opening ceremony!

6.30 pm IST

Newer venues for this edition and newer rules. They are talking about the strategic time-out and how the number of minutes have changed and divided into two sections of 2.5 minutes each, instead of 7.5 minutes.

On another note, heard of FIFO – first in first out? Is this an example of Time-Out, Money-In? TOMI? Probably, a bad one.

Sidhu talks about his fielding shenanigans. Wonder why.

6.20 pm IST

Adam Gilchrist talks to VJ Gaurav. Gilly says that the Chargers have not made too many changes to the side. They have only made ‘some subtle changes’ to the side. He names a few youngsters apart from a special mention for Kemar Roach, who replaces Fidel Edwards.

Do not think Roach will be playing today. He has still a couple of games remaining against Zimbabwe, unless, of course, he has also decided to retire from international cricket in the last couple of days or so!

Lalit Modi talks to Gaurav. He is looking forward to seeing Deepika Padukone perform! So, there is Lionel Richie fan and now it is Deepika who has a spectator.

6.10 pm IST

Ravi Shastri says, Mumbai Indians could be the time to watch out for, and it could just be Sachin Tendulkar’s tournament. He is also looking forward to the opening ceremony, and the performance of Lionel Richie.

Sidhu says a lot of other stuff, difficult to jot down all what he says, so will put down only the stuff that I can.

12th March, 2010, 5.55 pm IST

The third edition of the Indian Premier League is only a couple of hours away and we will be getting ready with the opening ceremony for the tournament. You can watch this opening ceremony live on YouTube. Of course, the security will be at its strongest after the recent terror threats and threats of player pull-out from the tournament due to the same.

Talking about its live coverage on television, Set Max will be broadcasting it for all the viewers in India. The Extraa Innings has a new experts in its studios; Navjot Singh Sidhu!

Related posts:

1. Buy IPL 2010 tickets, watch IPL 2010 live
2. Adam Gilchrist confident Deccan Chargers can win again
3. Preview and Live Streaming of Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders
4. Adam Gilchrist bats for separate IPL window
5. MCC not to bid for IPL franchise

Short URL: http://www.cricketdiaries.com/?p=444

Posted by Sam on Mar 12 2010. Filed under Match Highlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry