The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 is set to kick off with a grand opening ceremony on Friday at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. While the cricketing focus is on the match between Chennai Super Kings and defending champions Gujarat Titans, the curtain-raiser event is also going to be mesmerising, considering a drone show will be conducted, together with some celebrity performances. Ahead of the opening ceremony, a video emerged on social media, showing a glimpse of the drone show that will be held on Friday.
As per reports, around 1,500 drones will be used at the opening ceremony, creating a unique light show that has not been seen in the IPL before. The drones will form different shapes in the sky, one of them being the IPL trophy. The rehearsals for the drone show have reportedly been going on for a couple of days. Here’s a glimpse:
This is simply magnificent – the drone show tonight will be mesmerizing. pic.twitter.com/43XmTMNczd
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 31, 2023
As far as the cricketing contests go, the 2023 edition of the IPL will start with the mouth-watering clash of star-studded defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) and four-time champions Chennai Super Kings.
The match will be a battle between two generations of Indian cricket. At one side will be CSK skipper MS Dhoni, who took Indian cricket to new heights of success in late 2000s to early 2010s by clinching the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup (2007), ICC Cricket World Cup (2011) and ICC Champions Trophy (2013) and became the only skipper to win these three major titles. Dhoni replicated this success in IPL, leading the team to the title on four occasions. On the other side is GT skipper Hardik Pandya, who was pushed into superstardom after leading GT to the title in their debut season. Pandya has also led India to some wins at the international level in the shorter format and is making a case for himself as a future white-ball skipper.
Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans will be facing a huge weight of expectations after clinching the title in their debut season. To prove that their title win was not a fluke, they would have to start this season well against the four-time champions Chennai Super Kings.
With ANI inputs
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