Mumbai, April 7: The Indian Premier League (IPL) season 11 has begun and so has the amalgamation of Cricket and Bollywood: Two of India's biggest passions. The opening ceremony of the IPL was grand as it always has been with the likes of Prabhudeva, Varun Dhawan and Hrithik Roshan dancing and Mika Singh humming or rather lipsing some of his hit songs.  But the presence of stars has not just been limited to team ownership.

Bollywood actors and celebrities have often been seen attending matches and cheering their favorite teams. Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone used to be a regular at Royal Challengers Bangalore matches. The IPL final has also seen celebrities from Bollywood turning up to enjoy the T20 adrenaline. This season has seen a star studded start already:

Fans also shared pictures and video of Hrithik Roshan's performance in the opening ceremony:

Elli Avram, who is rumoured to be dating Indian team all-rounder and Mumbai Indians star player Hardik Pandya, was also present at the venue:

Elli Avram during the opening ceremony of IPL 2018. (Photo Credit: Screenshot/Twitter)

Fans went static when there was a dance face-off between Varun Dhawan and India's legendary dancer Prabhudeva. Frankly, nobody can match Prabhudeva when it comes to dance, not even the brilliant Varun and it seemed he know and had fun too:

Twitterati were more than happy to share videos of the opening ceremony that had performances by Varun Dhawan, Prabhudeva, Hrithik Roshan, Tamannaah, Jacqueline Fernandez and Singer Mika. A video of all of them together:

IPL and Bollywood are inseparable. Some will say that it started the very moment when superstar Shahrukh Khan and actress Preity Zinta and Shilpa Sheety Kundra became team co-owners of franchises like Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals respectively. But the fans seem to be loving it, so there is no harm in it. The show has begun.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2018 12:33 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).