A glitzy ceremony at National Sports Club of India in Mumbai kick-started the ninth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). Bollywood stars were aplenty, as were the international ones as they dazzled the audience with their entertaining performances.
Here is a pic for @IPL 9 opening ceremony#IPL9 pic.twitter.com/OEQ55YNmPj
— Gujarat Lions Rajkot (@GujaratLions) April 8, 2016
Co-owner of the Kings XI Punjab Preity Zinta was also present. Donning a gorgeous red dress, Preity stole the thunder on Friday. She said that she is excited for the new season of IPL and would like her team, KXIP, to win the trophy this time around.
Jacqueline Fernandez was the first on stage as she entertained the audience by grooving to several Bollywood dance numbers
Katrina Kaif got loud cheers for her performance and the audience cheered her for her moves.
Dwayne Bravo took over the stage from the Bollywood stars and performed his ‘champion dance’ and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. While singer Ankit Tiwari provided an Indian touch to the Champion song soon after.
Champion! Champion! #IPL pic.twitter.com/TPOgv1Jh0O
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 8, 2016
Punjabi rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh was in his new look but still had the magic of old as he made his presence felt with a performance on his superhit numbers.
Put your hands up for @asliyoyo! He is getting the crowd into the act at the moment! #IPL pic.twitter.com/xtg34fZZrC
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 8, 2016
Bollywood heartthrob Ranveer Singh made a grand entry by donning the cricket attire to the wild cheer of the crowd inside the stadium as he entertained them for a long period towards the close.
Ravi Shastri was holding the mic again, anchoring the MCC Spirit of Cricket segment. The eight captains (in the order of: Zaheer Khan, Suresh Raina, David Miller, Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, David Warner and Rohit Sharma) came on to the stage to sign the pledge to ‘play hard, play fair and uphold the spirit of the game’.
Major Lazer, the American electronic music group, brought the opening night to a close with their extravagant performance along with Shweta Pandit.
#LeanOn with @MAJORLAZER @IPL.
Epic night @diplo @RanveerOfficial @Asli_Jacqueline @asliyoyo #Katrina @DJBravo47️ pic.twitter.com/tWfJ5Ke5Y9— Shweta Pandit (@ShwetaPandit7) April 9, 2016
But social media had a very different; a very real take of the opening ceremony. Here are 10 tweets that best described the whole ceremony.
@RayuduAmbati really serious about the match tmrw. Taking a quick nap while the #IPLOpeningCeremony is going on.Haha pic.twitter.com/ibeL2Y0Jun
— Unmukt Chand (@UnmuktChand9) April 8, 2016
Guess only Indians are loving this.#iplopeningceremony pic.twitter.com/YBtZxy0lrL
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) April 8, 2016
Not Sure They Are Showing #IPLOpeningCeremony Or India’s Got Talent?#VIVOIPL #IPL #IPL2016
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) April 8, 2016
At the end of this IPL opening ceremony, Rekha ji will come on stage & will give best actress award…Vo nhi to kuch nhi #iplopeningceremony
— Paresh Rawal (@Babu_Bhaiyaa) April 8, 2016
#IPLOpeningCeremony would have been more better if Bravo would have danced instead of others. #IPL #IPL8 #CSKvsSRH
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) April 11, 2015
One word reaction to IPL opening ceremony: why
Two word reaction to IPL opening ceremony: seriously why— Kabir (@The_Sleigher) April 8, 2016
Dear @BCCI , Please arrange a 5-5 overs friendly match in next IPL Opening Ceremony instead of paying to actors for this shit performance.
— Sunil- The Cricketer (@1sInto2s) April 8, 2016
BCCI’s investment on IPL Opening Ceremony > Pakistan’s GDP + Bangladesh’s GDP..#IPLOpeningCeremony #IPL2016
— MumBaekar.. (@katamulgi) April 8, 2016
