IPL 2020: No opening ceremony or cheerleaders

By Senior Writer

Posted on September 18, 2020

IPL 2020: No opening ceremony or cheerleaders

The glamoured cricketing league, the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be horning the locks on 19th September with its opening match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Shaikh Zayad stadium. The league is to go in a full swing ahead but the masses will be missing to witness the game as spectators.

The league is all set to be held behind closed doors and unfortunately, there is no pre-match opening ceremony on an opening day. There might be two reasons for no opening ceremony as the BCCI could be financially suffering after there was no international cricket and no witnesses in the ground for IPL to generate cash amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

However, the rating could be higher as broadcasters believe that there will be no spectators but they will be watching from homes – the high number of traffic.

Sourav Ganguly revealed that there might be a small crowd in the second phase following social distancing and quarantine rules.

IPL 2020: No opening ceremony or cheerleaders

“They (broadcasters) are actually expecting the highest rating of IPL this season because they believe if (people) don’t turn up in the ground, they will be actually watching on their television sets. There is a positive in everything,” Ganguly was quoted as saying during an online lecture as part of the ‘Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series’.

“…because of the COVID and infection, you don’t want people to be too close to each other, but very soon you will see there will be 30 percent people in the ground with social distancing. They are properly tested and allowed to enter the ground. But I think that is going to happen over a period of time,” he added.