The opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is one event that fans eagerly wait for and it has become synonymous with setting the tone for the tournament and VIVO IPL 2018 is no different. The 11th edition of cash-rich domestic T20 cricket tournament is all set to kick off on April 7 with a grand opening ceremony followed by the first match, Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Since IPL is all about bringing glamour and cricket under one roof, it is natural for the opening ceremony to have the Bollywood bigwigs perform and enthral the audience. IPL 2018 Schedule in PDF: Download VIVO Indian Premier League 11 Full Timetable With Fixtures, Matches, Team and Venue Details.

The IPL 2018 opening ceremony will see superstar actor-dancer Hrithik Roshan along with beauties Jacqueline Fernandez and Tamannah Bhatia shake their legs on catchy songs. Singer Mika Singh has also been roped in to captivate the large crowd at Wankhede Stadium and millions who will watch it on TV with his chartbusters. IPL 2018: 8 Captains Shoot for the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ Pledge in Mumbai Ahead of the T20 Season.

The IPL ceremonies of the past since inaugural edition in 2008 too have made news and have contributed immensely to the viewership of the IPL. Here the blast from the past.

2008 IPL opening ceremony

The very first opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League was the first time the world saw a show of such grand nature precede a cricket tournament as BCCI wanted to make a statement to the world about the arrival of IPL. Fireworks and Props made up a great night for fans.

2014 IPL opening ceremony

The event in UAE will be remembered for Shah Rukh Khan’s charm offensive as he lit the stage with his humour and presence. One particular encounter with Virat Kohli had the audience in splits as King Khan took pot shots at Kohli’s relationship with Anushka through a well thought of ‘Swayamvar’ act. Shane Watson and his magical performance with the guitar were other noteworthy acts.

2015 IPL opening ceremony

Hrithik Roshan put up an electrifying performance as he danced on some of his most successful numbers. The crowd clearly in awe of the megastar's presence enjoyed every moment at IPL 2015 opening ceremony.

Anushka Sharma stole the show at the 2015 IPL opening ceremony in Kolkata. One particular incident about the ceremony which had the media and fans in a tizzy was the sight of Virat Kohli blushing seeing his lady love perform and the crowd did not help with frequent chants of Virat’s name during the actresses performance.

2016 IPL opening ceremony

The likes of Ranveer Singh, DJ Bravo with his champion song and Honey Singh with his party anthems were the main highlights of the show but the real talking point that had the social media abuzz was Katrina Kaif’s energetic performance and particularly her abs that were trending news for days. This was one of the most power-packed IPL ceremonies of all time with several prominent names from Bollywood and Cricket in attendance.

2017 IPL opening ceremony

To mark the 10th anniversary of the IPL, each stadium had its own opening ceremony before its first game as BCCI went all out splurging huge sums on the event. If Disha Patani performed before the Kings 11 Punjab home game, Amy Jackson had the Hyderabad crowds shake a leg or two as she stole the show with her moves. Guru Randhawa was in the capital adding his vocals to the grand event while Kriti Sanon was roped in for Bangalore leg of the show.

Well, the validity of opening ceremonies may be a topic of hot debate with the corpus spent on them but when you think about the X-factor associated with Indian Premier League, they seem to be a strong contributing factor to it. The die-hard fans of eight franchises are eagerly waiting for the IPL 11 opening ceremony to commence. Let the dhating naach begin!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 07, 2018 12:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).