IPL captains not to attend opening ceremony

NEW DELHI: The BCCI has decided that the six captains of IPL franchises barring Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, won’t need to attend the opening ceremony scheduled on April 7. It is learnt that all eight captains will do a special video shoot on April 6 and leave for their respective cities. Till last year, the convention was to have an opening ceremony a day before the first match, which all captains would attend and sign the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ pledge. This year it was decided at the IPL governing meeting that opening ceremony would be held in Mumbai on April 7 before the first match between MI and CSK. However the goof up happened because senior IPL officials didn’t do their homework on the logistical aspect of four other teams who play the next day. On April 8, Daredevils face Kings XI Punjab in Mohali at 4 pm while RCB face KKR in Kolkata at 8 pm.