IPL 2023 Opening Ceremony Highlights: Tamanna, Rashmika sizzle as Arijit enthralls Ahmedabad crowd in dazzling event

Rashmika's performance ends and the crowd is asking for more! Mandira enters the stage to take over the proceedings now!

The fans are screaming their lungs out as Rashmika is winning everyone over with her brilliant dance moves!

Rashmika is on the stage now, to follow up with Tamanna's performance! IT WAS STUNNIG BY TAMANNA AND THE FANS WELCOME RASHMIKA WITH AN APPLAUSE!

Tamanna enters the stage to begin her dance performance and dazzles the crowd with her gentle sizzling moves!

Arijit's final three song of the evening are Hawaayein from 'Jab Harry Met Sejal', 'Deva' from Brahmastra and 'India Jeetega' from 83 as he waves a final goodbye to the Ahmedabad crowd. Exhilarating stuff indeed

The cameras just panned to the one man in the stadium everyone wants to see - MS Dhoni. Sitting in the dugout, Dhoni was clearly enjoying the show as he could be seen grooving to Arijit's numbers. What a sight! Broadcasters: This should be your next question to MSD - "Are you an Arijit fan?"

Arijit is now on a moving car, along the boundary ropes, rocking with a guitar! He is followed by people with flags of India and IPL franchises.

Arijit sings another chartbuster from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Ilahi! THE FANS ARE GOING GAGA HERE!

He is on fire, bringing out one chartbuster after another as the Ahmedabad crowd sings with him in Unison. After singing some of his iconic sings, Arijit dives into some of his latest pops, including 'Tere Pyaar Mein' and 'Ek Baar Hi Kiya" from the recently released 'Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar'

IT'S THE ULTIMATE WAY TO BEGIN IPL 2023! ARIJIT HAS THE CROWD UNDER HIS TOTAL CONTROL AND THEY ARE JUST TOTALLY SERENADED!

Arijit brings out his famous iconic Kabira song, from Bollywood's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani! THE FANS ARE GOING CRAZY!

Arijit enthralls the crowd with his famous song Kesariya from the movie Brahmastra.

Arijit Singh is on the stage and begins the event with his stunning voice, serenades the Ahmedabad crowd!

Mandira Bedi is here to open the proeedings as the host for the opening ceremony! SHE GETS WELCOMED WITH AN APPLAUSE!

According to the live broadcast, the GT and CSK buses are on their way to the Narendra Modi Stadium!

There will be a drone show with close to 1500 drones, and they will create unique designs on the sky. The drones will also form the IPL trophy.

Get ready folks! More 30 minutes to go for the opening ceremony! Arijit, Tamanna and Rashmika will take the stage to sizzle us all with their glamorous performances! WHAT A WAY TO START IPL 2023!

CSK: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwaine Pretorius, Deepak Chahar, Simarjeet Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Bhagath Varma, Tushar Deshpande, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Akash Singh

GT: Abhinav Manohar, Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson, Hardik Pandya(c), Rahul Tewatia, Matthew Wade(w), Rashid Khan, Shivam Mavi, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal, Srikar Bharat, Wriddhiman Saha, Sai Sudharsan, Urvil Patel, Vijay Shankar, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Odean Smith, Jayant Yadav, Joshua Little, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Pradeep Sangwan

The opening ceremony is coming up, scheduled for 6:00 PM IST. We will see performances from Arijit Singh, Rashmika Madanna and Tamanna Bhatia! STAY TUNED FOLKS FOR SOME EPIC CRICKET EXTRAVAGANZA!

BCCI's Jay Shah gave fans a sneak peek into the IPL 2023 Opening Ceremony, revealing how the field has been set for the event. In the photo, the field can seen showcasing the logos of all franchises.

A video of Arijit preparing for his performance has gone viral on social media, where the singer can be seen moving along the boundary ropes on a car, and also singing while playing the guitar.

It looks like the opening ceremony and season opener has been blessed with good weather, with the temparute expected to be around 33-27 degrees Celsius.

Speaking ahead of the event, Tamanna said, "Definitely Dhoni is everyone's favourite and I am no different. And Virat. I think these two are my favourites."

Ahead of the opening ceremony, Rashmika revealed her favourite cricketers. She said, "Of course, Dhoni sir and Virat sir. All of our players who are at top-notch."

DC have named Abhishek Porel as Pant's replacement. Porel is a wicketkeeper-batter who has joined DC for ₹20 lakhs. Meanwhile, MI have roped in Sandeep Warrier as Bumrah's replacement, for ₹50 lakhs. Warrier represented KKR and RCB in the past.

With new venues announced for this season, IPL 2023 will be held in Ahmedabad, Mohali, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Jaipur, Mumbai, Guwahati and Dharamshala. IPL 2023 will consist of 70 league games, which will have 18 double headers. Each franchise will play seven home and away fixtures during the campaign. Rajasthan Royals will play their first two home matches in Guwahati, and then will play their remaining games in Jaipur. Meanwhile, Punjab Kings will play their five home matches in Mohali, and then play their last two home fixtures in Dharamshala.

It will be of Master and Apprentice in the season opener as Dhoni's CSK take on Hardik's GT. Hardik led GT to the title in their debut campaign last year. He made his India debut under Dhoni. In total, Pandya has five IPL trophies, winning four times with MI too. Dhoni and Pandya's first stint as a captain was directly in a major tournament - Dhoni in T20 World Cup and Hardik in IPL. Dhoni has won the IPL four times.

IPL opening ceremonies have always lived up to their billing with lavish performance from world-famous artists. In the past, we have seen performances from the likes of Salman Khan, Pitbull, Akon, Shah Rukh Khan, Shriya Saran and Katrina Kaif. Will we see them replicate such performances this time?

On Thursday, CSK named Akash Singh as a replacement for Mukesh Choudhary, who is injured. Mukesh made his IPL debut last season and bagged 16 wickets. He currently recovering from a stress fracture and will miss the entire season.

Akash was part India's U-19 World Cup side in 2020 and has represented RR in the past. CSK purchased him for RS 20 lakhs.

Fans will be eagerly waiting for Tamanna's performance. Having acted in over 73 movies, she has received a South Indian International Movie Award and received eight Filmfare Awards South nominations.

Just 2 nights before their IPL 2023 opener vs MI, RCB pacer Hazlewood revealed that he will miss the entire first half of the season due to an Achilles problem. He stated that he would reach RCB's camp by April 14 and need another week to be match-fit.

According to a TOI report, Rohit missed the captains' meet as he was unwell and could not travel to Ahmedabad. The report further mentioned that the MI skipper is available for his side's opener vs RCB on April 2.

Ahead of the opening ceremony, Rashmika said, "So, I have always wanted to go and witness a match, but I never got the opportunity. But today, I am going to be performing in the opening ceremony. So I am like, made it!"

"Generally when I watch a match, I get too anxious. I have my emotions up and down. So I try to just look at the results of it.

"Of course, Dhoni sir and Virat sir. All of our players who are at top-notch", she further added.

Ahead of the opening ceremony, Tamanna spoke to IPL's media team, and the interaction was shared on Twitter. She said, "Performing on stage is something I have enjoyed since I started my career. But I feel like everytime you perform on stage, it is very exhilarating and its almost like this nervous energy which is inevitable. But just performing for the IPL and in 2023 where there's been so much, the pandemic, its been a hard two years for everyone and getting the opportunity to perform with Arijit, Rashmika is something I am really looking forward to."

“Let me breath cricket. For us movie stars, cricket is so close to us. It's kind of what we have been bought up with. So it's something we really celebrate.

“When I watch, I watch like I get very involved and very invested. Definitely Dhoni is everyone's favourite and I am no different. And Virat. I think these two are my favourites”, she further added.

Rashmika will be aiming to entertain fans with her performance. The actress works mainly in Telugu and Kannada films, and also in some Hindi and Tamil ones. She is also a recipient of four SIIMA Awards and a Filmfare Award South.

The last opening ceremony took place in IPL 2018. Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan, Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Tamannaah performed at the event. There were fancy props, drum rolls, more than a hundred supporting artists which left the fans enthralled! The event was cancelled in IPL 201 by the BCCI, as tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack. Then, Covid-19 restrictions didn't let it happen from 2020-22.

The Impact Player rule has been introduced for IPL 2023. It allows a team to bring in an Impact Player at any point in an innings to replace a player from the XI after the toss. There is a catch to it! There are only four overseas players allowed in each team's XI, so if they have filled up that slot, then the Impact Player can only be an Indian player.

Some reports are stating that Katrina Kaif could also perform in the IPL 2023 Opening Ceremony!

A lot of focus will be on LSG captain Rahul, who has been under a lot of pressure lately due to his poor form in international cricket. But IPL has been his playing ground and last season he finished in second position in the Orange Cap race with 616 runs in 15 games. A Orange Cap holder with former team Punjab Kings, Rahul will once again look to add more runs to his kitty ahead of the ODI World Cup.

The captains of all ten franchies met ahead of the season opener and posed with the IPL trophy. Here is the video.