The lucrative Indian Premier League will be launched on Friday with an elaborate opening ceremony ahead of the inaugural match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders. Organizers of the eight-team Twenty20 competition have promised show business razzmatazz to signal the start of a cricketing revolution which has attracted many of the leading players in the world on massive retainers.Bollywood stars will mix with the elite of Indian society to watch a colorful show that features lights, music, stilt walkers and acrobats.
The 55,000 sellout crowd the settled down to the opening match of a six-week tournament which sees the respective franchises playing each other in a round-robin format ahead semifinals and the final in Mumbai on June 1.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has received official sanction by the world governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), but traditionalists are fearful it will undermine the longer form of the game such as five-day Test matches which are contested by countries.
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