GLITZY OPENING ACT

Drums, long lines of fans and loudspeakers blaring popular music marked the arrival of the Indian Premier League and fittingly for Mumbai, Bollywood created a glittering spectacle to kick off the glamorous competition at Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.

The city was already awash in blue with a poster of Rohit Sharma and his team mates on every street corner with directions that would take fans to Wankhede for the game. A couple of hours before the start, Marine Drive was packed with long lines of fans in blue and yellow, phones out to film the arrival of the performers of the night.

They grooved along with Varun Dhawan and Prabhudeva who kicked off proceedings at 6: 15 pm, followed by Tamannaah Bhatia and Jacqueline Fernandez and eventually Hrithik Roshan who headlined the ceremony. Unlike previous editions, captains of the franchises were on screen instead of being present live at the ground. Defending champions’ skipper Sharma appeared with the trophy in the middle of the entertainment. Committee of Administrators members Diana Edulji and Vinod Rai were in front row seats for the celebrations with Board for Control of Cricket in India officials C. K. Khanna, Amitabh Chaudhry, Anirudh Chaudhry and IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla also present. ● Unlike previous editions, captains of the franchises were on screen instead of being present live at the ground. Mumbai Indians skipper Sharma appeared with the trophy in the middle of the entertainment.