IPL 2009 Twenty20 Opening Ceremony

The much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) 2009 twenty20 tournament kicks off on 17 April 2009 with a colorful opening ceremony to be held at Newlands, Cape Town. The attractive opening ceremony will be held after the two matches being taken place on Saturday. In the first match, Chennai Super Kings will take on Mumbai Indians, followed by the second match between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Rajasthan Royals. Eight teams will be involved in the 36-day cricket extravaganza. IPL 2009 is the second season of the league after its highly successful inaugural tournament held in India last year. I was a bit puzzled about the exact date and timing of the opening ceremony with some sources saying the opening ceremony will take place on 17 April. However, at last, I got to know that it will take place on 18 April after the two scheduled matches.

"On Saturday evening, after the two opening matches, fans will be treated to what looks to be an entertaining opening ceremony, which will include fireworks, acrobats, fire dancers and the rock group Snow Patrol, famous for hits such as Chasing Cars, Run and Signal Fire.
IPL 2009 was supposed to take place in India, but the tournament was shifted to South Africa last month after Indian government had informed IPL about their inability to provide adequate security to the tournament as there would be general election in the country at the same time."

Event: IPL 2009 Twenty20 Opening Ceremony

Date: 18 April 2009, Saturday
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Live TV: Sony SET Max

Gala Parade on Thursday in Cape Town
Well, South Africa being the new host now seems to be well-prepared to organize the 59-match IPL T20 2009 tournament. On Thursday (16 April), a huge parade involving more than 150 cricketers from around the world as well as the bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty were held on Cape Town streets. Players of eight teams were riding on eight separate open-roof busses, while another bus was allocated for IPL. Amidst the performance of Indian dancers and local brass bands, the parade created lots of attraction and excitement among the local people of Cape Town. In fact, there were lots of people lining up on the street to experience the parade which featured some of world’s biggest cricket stars alongside some of the Indian movie stars who have world wide fan following.

You might think that IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament would not be able to feature an attractive opening ceremony because the tournament was relocated to South Africa just three weeks ago. Yes, I agree that staging a grand opening ceremony on such a short time notice is very tough, but IPL organizers have taken it as a challenge to present the cricket fans with a gala show during the opening ceremony of IPL 2009.

To be honest, I did not find enough information regarding the details of IPL 2009 opening ceremony. I do not know why IPL officials did not revel much on the opening ceremony of the second edition of IPL. May be, they want to give a big surprise to the cricket fans, but I think, it would have been better for the tournament if they informed the cricket fans regarding the activities of the IPL 2009 opening ceremony. Actually, I got shocked to see that there was not enough information about the timing of the opening ceremony in the official website of Indian Premier League (IPL).

As far as I came to know, IPL 2009 opening ceremony will feature some attractive shows and performances by Indian as well as foreign performers. First of all, all of the 8 IPL teams along with flag artists will enter into the Newlands stadium in Cape Town amidst huge amount of applause and performance by Indian and African Dejembe drummers. Performance of the drummers will definitely touch the hearts of millions of Indians across the world. Local Zulu dancers in their traditional cloths will perform their traditional dances.

A Pantsula dance performance by the Gum Boot Dancers, renowned international band Snow Patrol, a colourful swarm of “butterfly dancers” swaying and fluttering to music, acrobatic performances, a high power laser show, sky tracers, fire dancers and lots more form a part of the breathtaking Opening Ceremony of the biggest television event.

Moreover, there will be a glittering acrobatic show by the professional performers which will entertain the cricket fans to the fullest. Then there will be eye-catching fireworks by the fire dancers. Besides the Bollywood stars like Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty, who all are IPL franchise owners, some of the Hollywood stars will also be present at the opening ceremony of IPL 2009 twenty20 tournament. No doubt, the presence of Bollywood and Hollywood stars will glitz and glamour to the opening ceremony. Overall, IPL 2009 opening ceremony seems to be a glittering combination of top level performances by the high level professionals and the presence of Bollywood and Hollywood super stars.