What a Show! The IPL show kicked off with a spectacular show today that absolutely was world class. The stadium was absolutely jam packed - some 50,000 people crowded in to the Chinnaswami Stadium to see what kinds of stunts will be in store. And they were not disappointed. Shankar Mahadevan was absolutely brilliant, as he came out to one of the better live performances that I’ve seen. He sang several songs, including the hit “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”, quite apt for this occasion.There was no shortage of fancy-shmonshy laser shows, and fancily dressed performers doing their thing. Lots of song-and-dance with floating dancers, dancers on stilts and Japanese models in bubbles and all kinds of interesting showgirls! At one point, there were 8 acrobats apparently hung mid air holding the flags of the 8 teams! It was quite brilliant if you were in the stadium! But the real show-clincher for me was the fireworks show. The whole sky over the stadium was like it was on fire, the dark of the night completely overwhelmed by all kinds of fireworks. Spectacular!
And as Ravi Shastri introduced the captains, the stadium thundered with applause. Rahul Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Ganguly and Sehwag received roaring applause. Even Shane Warne received a noticeably loud applause from the audience. They’ve certainly warmed up to the idea of foreigners playing (and even leading) the IPL teams. But it was Sachin who received the biggest roar by far! Well, no matter which team he’s leading, the little master always demands loads of respect! The stadium even broke out in chants of “Sachin… Sachin…” . Fun Stuff!
