18:11(IST)
Earlier, Parineeti Chopra and Ranveer Singh were also scheduled to perform during the opening ceremony but both had to pull out due to respective reasons. "Parineeti was shooting non-stop for 'Namastey England' in Patiala and had back-to-back, pre-committed endorsement commitments. So, unfortunately, she did not have enough time to rehearse in spite of her best efforts," the actress' spokesperson said in a statement. Earlier this week, Ranveer's representative said he was advised by doctors against performing at the gala to avoid aggravating a shoulder injury. Stay tuned folks, the opening ceremony is just about to start.
18:06(IST)
Following the opening ceremony, defending champions Mumbai will lock horns against Chennai in a mouth-watering clash at the Wankhede Stadium. MI, led by Rohit Sharma, appear to face an arduous task against the star-studded Chennai side, led by their charismatic skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is back at the helm following the team's two-year ban in 2016 and 2017 IPL seasons along with Rajasthan Royals. The visitors would surely like to begin their campaign with a bang against their arch-rivals in the latter's backyard. To give an extra dimension to the contest will be the sight of veteran offie Harbhajan Singh turning out in CSK yellows against a side which he served with distinction for ten long years.
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The brand value of Indian Premier League will not get affected by the recent ball tampering scandal that rocked the cricketing world, feels Royal Challengers Bangalore wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. Australian captain Steven Smith and his deputy David Warner were involved in a pre-meditated plan to tamper with the ball on the third day of the Cape Town Test against South Africa and let Cameron Bancroft carry out the act. The scandal has generated widespread condemnation stretching beyond sport, including Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said it "bitterly disappointed the whole nation". The row had its repercussion in IPL 2018 as well as the Aussie duo will not be allowed to play in the T20 franchise tournament because of their roles in ball tampering. "It's unfortunate. But IPL has been a very big brand. It's such a big tournament with a lot of young players and seniors have been around for years. A couple of incidents that has happened outside the IPL should not affect," Patel told reporters on the sidelines of a Royal Challengers Bangalore event. Smith and Warner have been banned for a year while rookie Bancroft was given a nine-month ban by Cricket Australia. "I don't think I'm in a position to speak on what has happened. The ICC and CA have taken decisions... Right now the focus is how RCB can win and how I can contribute rather than thinking about something which has happened outside," Patel said. Having won the IPL twice (2015 and 2017) with Mumbai Indians, Patel is back with RCB after an earlier stint in 2014, and hopes to contribute in winning the elusive title for the Virat Kohli-led side. "A lot has changed from where I was in 2014. I'm coming with a lot of experience of winning the tournament. My performance individually has been very good in last few IPLs, also in the domestic tournaments. Nothing many things will change for me. I've been working hard personally. Hopefully I will help the team to win the tournament," Patel said. "RCB have played two finals (in IPL and CLT20), but could not convert to tournament winning performance. There's no point analysing what happened in last few years. We could have done it (the analysis) if it was the same team."
17:52(IST)
IPL is set to start with a blockbuster encounter between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Before the match, the fans will witness the opening ceremony of the tournament which will take place at the Wankhede Stadium. Bollywood actors Hrithik Roshan, Jacqueline Fernandes and Tamannah Bhatia will perform in the ceremony. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are the only two captains who will be attending the ceremony this time. IPL 2018 Opening Ceremony will take place on 7 April, 2018 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. It will begin at 6:15 pm IST on Saturday. IPL 2018 Opening Ceremony will be broadcast on Star Sports network. You can live stream it on Hotstar and Jio. The Spirit of Cricket captain’s pledge is as integral a part of the Indian Premier League opening ceremony as is the swashbuckling show put on by various Indian and international artists to kick-start every edition of one of the most successful domestic T20 leagues in the world. But this time round, the captain’s pledge is set to be filmed in advance on April 6 and the recording will be played out during the opening ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium on April 7 before the opening game between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
17:43(IST)
One of the most awaited sights of the upcoming 11th season of the Indian Premier League is the return of the Chennai Super Kings and the sight of MS Dhoni in the yellow kit. After both CSK and the Rajasthan Royals served their two year suspension, they are making their way back to the competition. Earlier this week MS Dhoni joined the CSK team in Chennai and instantly hit the nets. The captain who is very much adored by the Chennai fans has been practicing the big shots for April 7th when they begin their campaign against defending champions Mumbai Indians. Dhoni might be busy and hard at practice but he always finds time for his fans, and the ones in Chennai, he has admitted are special for him. In a video doing the rounds on social media, Dhoni is seen taking a break from the nets and interacting with a young boy as his family looks on with immense joy at being able to meet the great man. Dhoni plays a game of high fives with youngest in the family, who though is not very impressed by the fact that the captain keeps dodging his high fives. Eventually though, Dhoni does stop pulling the leg of one of his youngest fans and they exchange a few high fives. MS Dhoni who was recently rested from the Indian team’s victorious Nidahas Trophy campaign in Sri Lanka, will once again don the captain’s hat when former champions Chennai Super Kings play the first game of this year’s IPL against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. Previously, under the leadership of MS Dhoni, CSK won the IPL in 2010 and 2011. Whilst CSK were out suspended Dhoni, continued to play in the IPL for the Rising Pune Supergiant side who are no more in the competition.
17:40(IST)
With IPL season just a week away, the excitement in Tamil Nadu has become palpable. After all, the state-based team Chennai Super Kings are making a comeback after being on the sidelines for two years. Neck deep in preparation for their opening match against Mumbai on April 7, the boys in yellow took some time out to their fair share of promotion. In their latest ad for Equitas Finance, the CSK paiyyans can be seen mouthing dialogues from superstar Rajinikanth's latest movie Kaala's trailer. What more could fans ask for than to see sports and film combine on screen? That too, when the reel side involves the biggest superstar in this part of the world. Harbhajan Singh kicks off the ad in Nana Patekar's villainous style to ask, "Kaala. Kaisa Naam hai re? (Kaala. What kind of name is this?)" The punchline is saved for the captain, the shoulders of whom CSK hinges upon — MS Dhoni. We see the trademark number 7 jersey turn towards the camera and the skipper looks into it to say, "Kya re... setting aa?" The fans, who have been waiting for the last two years to see their side take the field, will be super pumped to cheer on the squad.
17:35(IST)
One of India’s most loved cricket captains MS Dhoni is rarely known to show emotion on the field of play, but talk of a return for the Chennai Super Kings franchise to the IPL brought out the emotional side in Captain Cool. The CSK franchise are returning to the IPL after two years when it was serving a Supreme Court handed ban for their role in the spot-fixing controversy. CSK who are former two-time champions (2010 & 2011) had won the IPL title under the leadership of MS Dhoni. The team returns to the IPL in its 11th season and will once again be captained by Dhoni. In a video doing the rounds on social media, Dhoni is seen speaking at an event in Chennai where he was unable to control his emotions. “As I said it was, I knew I would play for the Pune team but the actual moment comes when you start walking with the team-sheet in your hand till that point of time its only practice and everything. It was a very emotional moment…since I have started playing T20 cricket represented the Indian cricket team, Jharkhand team in few tournaments and CSK for eight years, so it was an emotional moment not to see myself in yellow,” Dhoni said at the event. “But at the same time as professionals, we have to move ahead and also not to prove to anyone but to prove a point to myself that I am making sure whatever I gave in for CSK, I am not leaving any inch that I am not giving for the Pune team,” he added. The MS Dhoni-led CSK will be part of the opening day of this season’s IPL when they take on the defending champions Mumbai Indians on April 7th at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
17:26(IST)
West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle is known to be a colorful character who enjoys his time on the field, and off it too. A latest video of the swashbuckling batsman has surfaced online, where he is seen dancing on a Punjabi song. Gayle is one of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket, and will be playing for the Indian Premier League for Kings XI Punjab this year. After going unsold twice in this year's auctions, he was bagged for Rs 2 crore. The 38-year-old was recently seen in action during the ICC World Cup Qualifiers, where he got a ton against UAE. Gayle has a brilliant IPL record, where in 101 games, he has scored 3,626 runs at a strike-rate of 151. He has 5 hundreds and 21 fifties to his name. The southpaw batsman started his IPL career with Kolkata Knight Riders, and then later moved to Royal challengers Bangalore, where he achieved unprecedented success.
17:21(IST)
When a top official of Rajasthan Royals team management was informed about the arrest of three of its players in the wake of 2013 spot-fixing scandal, he thought someone was pulling off a prank but just that it turned out to be much more serious, reveals a new book on Indian cricket. Cricket Historian Boria Majumdar's new book 'Eleven Gods And A Billion Indians' published by Simon and Schuster, which is soon to hit the stands, revealed some dark but funny anecdotes during the spot-fixing episode. Call it destiny or twist of fate, Rajasthan Royals' journey has been one of intrigue and full of drama since the inception of Indian Premier League in 2008, when Shane Warne led a bunch of upstarts like Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Swapnil Asnodkar to title glory. But post 2013 when the infamous spot-fixing scandal broke out with three of its players including former India speedster S Sreesanth being arrested, the Jaipur-based outfit has been a much-maligned one. It might read funny in hindsight but former CEO of Royals, Raghu Iyer's recollections of that fateful early morning call in his hotel room, turned everything topsy-turvy. In the chapter titled 'Sky Fall' (Page 181), Iyer revisited the incidents of early morning of May 16, 2013. "We were staying at The Oberoi and I got a call around 5:30 am from duty manager of the hotel. My wife picked up the call and passed it to me in a jiffy. The duty manager was saying to me that several policemen, including an assistant commissioner from Mumbai Police, were waiting downstairs and I was to go down as soon as possible. "We had a sponsor shoot with Cyrus Broacha (a TV anchor and video jockey) the previous day and my first thought was this was a prank. I was being made a bakra (a famous programme of a popular music channel). I even said so and tried to laugh it off," Iyer recollects. "That was when I was told it was not a prank and that I was being summoned." The author then writes: "The Royals CEO went down and was met by a team from Delhi Police, led by an ACP in a safari suit. The cops had done their due diligence and were there to arrest three of the Royals players on spot-fixing. Iyer was literally pulled out of the bed and told about the arrests." In Iyer's words, they were in no hurry and explained to him every details that they have collected. "They were in no hurry and after explaining to me in detail did they tell me that they were going to Ankeet Chavan's room to pick him up," said Iyer. Iyer gave himself two hours to prepare for the enormity before informing Rahul Dravid at 8 am. "I informed Rahul at 8 am and he was distraught. He had hands on his head and just couldn't speak. To see a player of his calibre and stature go through this was painful." Interestingly, in another chapter titled 'What Do They Know Of Cricket?', the author provided another anecdote when a team from Rajasthan Royals went to meet the Supreme Court appointed three-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha with Dravid accompanying them. The author writes (Page 218): "Unlike the Chennai team, which was represented by a battery of lawyers, the Rajasthan team had sent Rahul Dravid among others, to put forward their case before Justice Lodha and his team." He then goes onto quote a source close to the panel, who corroborated the incident. "It was very interesting to see two different strategies being adopted by two different franchises. While Chennai was going the legal route, Rajasthan had Rahul Dravid with them for the very first meeting. Dravid had no role and it was very clear that it was an attempt to make an impression on the committee," the source said. "Justice Lodha, he went on to conform, was very polite but clear with Dravid. He wasn't needed in the meeting was the message that was conveyed to Dravid reasonably early and was respectfully told that they would call on him as and when required," the author writes.
17:11(IST)
The 11th edition of Indian Premier League is set to begin on April 7, and the teams are giving it their best to gel together that will help them do better in the tournament. In a latest video that has surfaced online, Royal Challengers Bangalore's Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra Chahal and Brendon McCullum are seen showing their dance skills. The video was posted on Twitter by leggie Chahal. He tweeted, "Warming up for the IPL with these legends 😆😜 @imVkohli @Bazmccullum #PlayBold #IAMRCB #newtwist #moreturn E Sala Cup Namde." RCB has always been a team that had a strong presence of national and international stars right from the maiden season in 2008. Despite that the team has just managed three final appearances in the 10 editions of the tournament. The Bengaluru outfit has once again managed to assemble a strong squad and RCB could just be the team to beat in this year’s tournament. Their team will be further strengthened with the presence of all-rounders like Corey Anderson, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali and Colin de Grandhomme.
17:07(IST)
Chennai Super Kings are back into the league after a hiatus of two years and the franchise is leaving no stones unturned to re-capture the imagination of the fans that they did so well in the first eight editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Two-time champions Chennai will lock horns against Mumbai in the first match of the eleventh edition of the league on Saturday, and on the eve of this blockbuster contest, the yellow brigade has fired the opening salvo by releasing their latest anthem — featuring skipper MS Dhoni in lead. Dhoni along with his teammates are seen dancing to the tunes of reworked whistle podu — the CSK anthem which became a hit amongst the fans in previous years. CSK uploaded the video on social media and their post read: "The summer we've all been waiting for is here. Thala has returned and the yellow army is back. What are you waiting for? #WhistlePodu. #Yellove #SummerIsHere ". Returning to the fray after serving out a two-year suspension, two-time winners Chennai Super Kings will take on reigning champions Mumbai Indians in the lung-opener. The needle clash, expected to be watched by a capacity crowd at the Wankhede Stadium, looks set to raise the curtains on the decade-old T20 League in grand style after a formal opening ceremony. MI, led by Rohit Sharma, appear to face an arduous task against the star-studded Chennai side, led by their charismatic skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is back at the helm following the team's two-year ban in 2016 and 2017 IPL seasons along with Rajasthan Royals. The visitors would surely like to begin their campaign with a bang against their arch-rivals in the latter's backyard. To give an extra dimension to the contest will be the sight of veteran offie Harbhajan Singh turning out in CSK yellows against a side which he served with distinction for ten long years. Mumbai will bank on their skipper Sharma, who has kept the number of his batting position under wraps for this game, but his role will be crucial. Rohit has showed that when he gets going then no bowling attack can stop him in the limited over formats and he would hope for a big knock in the first game to boost his and the team's confidence.
16:54(IST)
The Spirit of Cricket captain’s pledge is as integral a part of the Indian Premier League opening ceremony as is the swashbuckling show put on by various Indian and international artists to kick-start every edition of one of the most successful domestic T20 leagues in the world. But this time round, the captain’s pledge has been filmed in advance on April 6 and the recording will be played out during the opening ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium on April 7 before the opening game between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Speaking to CricketNext, a senior BCCI official said that the move was made to ensure that none of the four franchises who play on April 8 — Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab — miss the presence of their captains on the eve of their campaign opening games. The opening ceremony was initially planned for April 6 at the Cricket Club of India before the decision was made to host it at the Wankhede prior to the opening game. "Having the captain’s pledge at the Trident Hotel in Nariman Point on April 6 means that all the leaders can go back to their respective teams before their opening games. With the opening ceremony now on April 7, having the pledge live would mean keeping Virat Kohli (RCB), Gautam Gambhir (DD), Dinesh Karthik (KKR) and R Ashwin (KXIP) away from their teams on the eve of their opening game on April 8. So, if we have the event in advance, they can happily strategise and make last-minute plans before the game,” the official said. The Spirit of Cricket segment during the opening ceremony is the signing of a pledge by the 8 captains prior to the start of the season and it sees all of them share the stage for the only time in the tournament as the IPL trophy is put to play by the defending champion. Interestingly, a member of one of the franchises playing on April 8 applauded the decision and said that it wasn’t the most ideal situation to have the captain stay away from the team on the eve of the match. His sentiments were further echoed by a senior official of another franchise. “See, while it is up to the BCCI to decide on these things, having the captain’s pledge a day in advance augurs really well for the four teams that are playing on April 8. It is the opening game for you in the tournament and you don’t really wish for your skipper to stay away from the team as there are many last-minute plans that need to be chalked out going into the season opener,” he told CricketNext.
16:21(IST)
Hello and welcome to the LIVE coverage of the opening ceremony of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League. Hrithik Roshan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Varun Dhawan, Parineeti Chopra and Tamannaah Bhatia will be performing in the IPL opening ceremony on Saturday. Actress Tamannaah has said there is no better sports event than the IPL to perform for and she is excited about performing in the opening ceremony of the glamorous Twenty20 cricket tournament. Tamannaah said this on Friday while interacting with the media before the final rehearsal for the opening ceremony of IPL on Saturday. Tamannaah, who has performed in numerous award shows and stage tours, said performing in a stadium is completely different. "Before this, I have never performed for a sports event and of course, when you are on a stage there is a certain feeling of nervousness and excitement. As a performer, the feeling to perform in a stadium and to feel the energy of the audience will be completely different. I am excited because there is no better sports event than IPL to perform for. We are all crazy about cricket and it's the opening night," said Tamannaah. Talking about her performance and the songs incorporated Tamannah said: "Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad feel like my own because I belong to all these cities. This time, my performance is going to be on four songs in four languages. There is Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and a Hindi song. So it goes out to pretty much the whole of India." When asked which team would she choose to support, the "Baahubali" actress said: "...Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is coming back after two years, it has Dhoni and I am a huge fan, so I am looking forward to seeing them play."
Varun Dhawan performs on the sets of Dance Plus season 3 at Film city. (Image: Yogen Shah)
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