Bengaluru, Feb 24:
Bollywood actors led by superstar Shahrukh Khan brought to life the opening ceremony of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.
Bollywood Badshah joined actors Tiger Shroff, Shahid Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Kartik Aaryan and Sidharth Malhotra to perform in the star-studded ceremony.
Shahrukh, who has bond with cricket dates back to 2008 when he owned the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), had charmed his fans with songs from Pathaan and Dunki.
Thereafter, he expanded his franchise ownerships with teams in the West Indies, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States of America (USA).
After the Bollywood actors entertained the capacity stadium, Shahrukh introduced the five captains – Healy, Beth Mooney, Harmanpreet, Smriti Mandhana and Lanning – on the stage.
Winning captain of the 2023 WPL edition Harmanpreet of Mumbai Indians brought the trophy with her.
Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC) got ready to lock horns in the opener.
Meg Lanning’s DC will be looking to take revenge against MI, skippered by Harmanpreet Kaur.
UP Warriorz, led by Alyssa Healy, went through to the Eliminator last year before losing to the Mumbai team.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Giants (GT) failed to qualify for the playoffs last season and would want to make amends.
Apart from Bengaluru, the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi will also host matches in the WPL, including the eliminator on March 15 and the final on March 17.
Debutant Sajeevan Sajana made headlines with a dream last-ball six finish as defending champions Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals by four wickets in a thriller in the TATA WPL 2024 Opener.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur (55) and Yastika Bhatia (57) hit crucial fifties to help Mumbai Indians’ charge before Sanjana finished it off in style to spark celebrations in the Mumbai camp.Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to field.
