IPL lives up to the hype and promises more

Bangalore: The inaugural tie of the Indian Premier League (IPL) lived up to the promise of adding glamour to cricket with enthusiastic fans and cheerleaders dancing to hip-hop music at the end of every over and during the ball chase amid edge-of-the-seat excitement.

Right from the start of the glitz and glamour show ahead of the clash between Royal Challengers captained by Rahul Dravid and Kolkata Knight Riders led by Sourav Ganguly, there was never a dull moment for the crowd at the near-full 55,000-seat M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here.

The roar and cheer to greet the Washington Redskins cheerleaders, acrobats, stiltwalkers and the Hindi film composer trio of Shankar-Ehsan-Loy for their music continued unabated as Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan-owned Knight Riders tore apart the bowling of liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Royal Challengers.

The response of the Bangalore crowd should boost the confidence of the Indian cricket administrators that their gamble will pay off and the game's richest league will only get richer and more entertaining in the future.

Absent

Preity skips first match

Actress Preity Zinta and her beau Ness Wadia, joint owners of the Kings XI Punjab Mohali team, skipped the inaugural match held in Bangalore. The Bollywood star was present at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium for the most part of the day to oversee preparations of the first match that her team plays against the M.S. Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings.

- IANS