The Airtel Champions League Twenty20 got off to a roaring start at Bangalore. espnstar.com finds out more.

By Dominic Franks

The Airtel Champions League Twenty20 got off to the best start possible. Accompanied by the deafening roar of a near capacity crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, the impeccably organized opening ceremony unleashed an incredible line-up of power-packed performances that lasted for close to an hour.

As cool breezes swathed the ground, Lalit Modi- Chairman of the Governing Council of the Airtel Champions League Twenty20 opened the tournament at the same stadium that saw the IPL take wings and fly.

Before an orgiastic fiesta of colour, light and sound got underway, the captains of all the participating teams marched onto the ground. Predictably, the captains of the three Indian clubs got the loudest cheer. Among the overseas captains, Adam Gilchrist and Darren Ganga came in for raucous applause. Andrew Puttick, captain of the home team’s opponents the Cape Cobras, smiled wryly as the partisan crowd roundly booed the announcement of his name.

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The twelve captains proceeded to leave clay imprints of their hands, exchanged team flags and took the MCC – Spirit of Cricket Oath to respect their opponents, the umpires and their teams.

As soon as they departed 200 school children performed to the theme song of the Champions League Twenty20, after which twelve Japanese drummers thundered over their instruments momentarily chilling spines and boosting the gladiatorial spirit of the crowd.

Grammy award winning Chaka Khan was followed by the acrobatic Cube artists who drew massive applause for their gravity-defying feats of strength and endurance.

But the act that stood out amidst the excellence of the entire ceremony was the Shaolin Monks who were flanked by exponents of the South Indian martial art form Kalaripayattu. The esoteric mixture of Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Kalari and Chi Kung had the audience spellbound beyond belief.

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As the crowd got ready to groove to the tunes of Shaggy and Jamelia, an extensive meshwork of green laser beams created a surreal, virtual roof over the stadium that was astonishing to behold. A spectacular firework ensemble left the stadium sheathed in a pall of smoke but served to announce the fact that Diwali has come early this year with the Airtel Champions League Twenty20. All the performers converged on the field simultaneously to bring the curtains down a breath-taking ceremony that boggled the imagination.

In his opening speech, Lalit Modi said, “We are here for one purpose, to witness great athletes from great nations.” He could easily have been speaking about the incredible array of performers on display at the Chinnaswamy stadium today.

If the opening ceremony is anything to go by, the cricket boards of India, South Africa and Australia have created a sureshot winner. Now it’s time for the quality of cricket to take over.

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