‘Cricketainment’ takes centrestage

In keeping with its label of "cricketainment", the final day of the Indian Premier League had its share of non-cricket action and activity. Before the start of the final between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, cricket was put on the back burner, entertainment took centrestage and even the Super Kings, who came out to practice, couldn’t take their eyes off the extravaganza. Bollywood was represented by Amrita Arora, who danced to her best friend Kareena Kapoor’s numbers. Sameera Reddy then wooed the audience with some spicy moves while Dia Mirza got the biggest cheers with her Maharashtrian act.

Shamita Shetty too made her presence felt. But the eyes of the audiences were searching for the rock star of Bollywood, Salman Khan who put in a hip-swinging cameo show.

If the IPL opening ceremony in Bangalore was not short of glitter and style, the closing ceremony had acrobats strutting their stuff alongside the Bollywood masala leavened with a smattering of cricketing bigwigs. The main course was the ‘Cirque du Soleil’ along with eight giant wheels carrying the logos of the eight IPL teams rolling around the field as acrobat performers clad in blue did their gig. A laser show with 40 giant flames all around the ground helped heat up the atmosphere for the cricket tie baking in the backstage oven.

Four para-gliders landed in the ground with the IPL flag and even the sky above seemed to welcome the event. A fifth para-glider landed with a stuntman on board. A fusion of drums and electric guitars when the acrobats were performing lifted the spirits of those present with a neat balance.

If it was action out in the middle, the VIP stands saw Sachin Tendulkar with his wife Anjali and son Arjun, Mumbai Indians owner Mukesh Ambani with wife Neeta and Rajiv Shukla. Also present were Aamir Khan with his nephew Imraan and his son Junaaid.