As opening ceremonies go, this was less than singularly impressive. The energy was conspicuously absent until Deepika Padukone arrived in a blaze of lights and revved up the crowd, but otherwise, this wasn’t quite the start the third edition of the IPL would have hoped for.
The teeming air-taxis that ferried anyone and everyone falling into the ‘big-wig’ category had triggered expectations of a grand welcome to the Twenty20 bash, but those expectations remained largely unfulfilled.
The DY Patil stadium wasn’t anywhere near filled to capacity by the time the dignitaries ascended the dais at 6.40 pm. That the biggest cheer during the one-hour show on Friday evening was reserved for when Sachin Tendulkar walked up to affix his signature on the MCC – Spirit of Cricket banner is indicative of exactly what the gathering thought of the act that followed.
Perhaps, in some ways, that’s how it should be, because the IPL is more about cricket than anything else. Having said that, this domestic competition with an international flavour has been touted as the coming together of cricket and entertainment or, as the tag-affixers like to call it, cricketainment. On that count, the opening ceremony barely passed muster.
Neither UB40’s Ali Campbell nor Bjorn Again, the ABBA Revival team that swayed to ‘Dancing Girl’ managed to enthuse the crowd with the first couple of acts after the eight skippers signed the Spirit of Cricket oath and the tournament was declared open by IPL chairman and commissioner Modi.
Indeed, the brief video collage that depicted the ‘Journey of IPL’ to the background score of Jai Ho was more compelling than the preceding ‘entertainment’ packages, though the crowd finally found its voice, and feet, when Padukone danced and twisted her way through ‘Twist’, among other numbers.
The highlight of the evening was a juggling act by hoola hoop artists armed with LED glow sticks who captured and retained eye balls, before making way for one final performance by Lionel Richie, whose ‘Dancing on the Ceiling’ didn’t exactly bring the roof down. Bring on the cricket, we say!
