WPL 2023 Opening Ceremony Highlights: AP Dhillon, Kriti Sanon and Kiara Advani dazzle as league kicks off with a bang

And now to clear up that field in quick time as there is a match to be played. Mandira Bedi bids the fans at the stadium goodbye to mark the end of the closing ceremony. Well, that was fun, but it won't be able to hold a candle to what is coming up next because there won't be any choreography or premeditated moves involved there. It will be T20 cricket and we have seen that the format tends to be at its pulsating best in the IPL. Little reason to believe that won't be the case here as well. The captains make their way back, two of them - Harmanpreet Kaur and Beth Mooney, are set to go back into the middle soon enough for the toss. Goodbye from here! 

The captains take the covering off the trophy standing on a podium in front of them. Cue the big fireworks and the photo-op. 

The franchise captains are called on to the stage. Meg Lanning of the Delhi Capitals, Beth Mooney for Gujarat Giants, Harmanpreet Kaur of the Mumbai Indians, Smriti Mandhana of the Royal Challengers Bangalore and finally, Alyssa Healy of the UP Warriorz. 

BCCI President and former all-rounder Roger Binny is the first to get on stage and he is followed by secretary Jay Shah. 

Kriti Sanon and Kiara Advani join Dhillon on the stage as he ends his set. The crowd cheers for AP for a few seconds after the performance before Mandira Bedi takes the stage and thanks the performers. 

There are a lot of former greats at the stadium, which is only fitting considering the occassion. The camera just panned to NCA head VVS Laxman in the stands. 

There are a few breaking out some moves in the stands but it is unlikely that those unaware of the songs being performed would be too enthused by this. There would be many just waiting for the real show to begin. Dhillon is doing his best to whip the crowd up though. 

Sanon's set ends with “Param Sundari”. The songs have been run of the mill Bollywood fare thus far. Some big cheers go up as Mandira Bedi announces AP Dhillon. He, of course, stars with “Brown Munde” the song that catapulted him to superstardom. 

A big star is unfurled and it covers much of the fielder after which the Bollywood actress makes her way onto the stage. Onto the next one. 

While Advani rattles through her set-piece, there are a group of dancers in bright colours on the field standing in a formation that reads “WPL”. Kiara's performance, meanwhile ends with a performance of the song “Bijli" 

The Bollywood star is the first to take the stage. Quite fitting that it was Mandira Bedi who kicked off the proceedings. Bedi's presence in the 2003 World Cup broadcast team opened up more doors than can be counted.  

The DY Patil Stadium cheers are Mandira Bedi calls for applause ahead of the start of the big event. 

A video is being rolled with midels representing the colours of the five teams. The stage has been set up and the dancers have assembled in all their colours. 

It's all brewing up nicely at the DY Patil Stadium. Judging by the long cues outside the stadium and the traffic jams leading up to the gates, we are going to have a full house here. 

Gates Open: 4 PM IST

Opening Ceremony: 6:25 PM IST

Match - Gujarat Giants vs Mumbai Indians

Toss: 7:30 PM IST

Match Start: 8 PM IST

Australia are the undisputed leaders in women's cricket. Moreover, the WBBL is the oldest women's T20 league and so, the talk of the town has been whether the WPL will help India bridge the gap with Australia. "Definitely for Australia and England the WBBL and Hundred have worked very well and after those tournaments they've got so much young talent. After the WPL we are also going to get some good talent and I'm sure the difference you're talking about [between India and Australia sides] we'd love to cut down. When you see good talent coming up, you're definitely going to make a good team after the WPL," said Harmanpreet. 

This is what the BCCI had to say about the opening ceremony. “Adding glitz and glamour to the tournament opener will be Bollywood stars – Kiara Advani and Kriti Sanon. To top it all, singer-songwriter AP Dhillon will be performing some of his musical chartbusters on-stage that is bound to leave the audience enthralled.”

The tournament will be played in two stadiums - the DY Patil Stadium and the Brabourne Stadium. With there being just five teams, there will be just one eliminator, with the top ranked team qualifying for the final directly. The eliminator is scheduled to be held on March 24 at the DY Patil Stadium after which the final will be held on March 26 at the Brabourne Stadium.

The auction for the season was held on February 13 in which a total of 87 players were sold and ₹59,50,00,000 was splurged collectively amongst the five franchises. India's Smriti Mandhana, who was the first player to go under the hammer in the auction, was also the most expensive at ₹3.40 Crore which the Royal Challengers Bangalore spent. Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner and England’s Natalie Sciver-Brunt emerged as the most expensive overseas players.

It is a real star-studded clash to start out the league. The Gujarat Giants are led by Australia superstar Beth Mooney and their key players include batters Dayalan Hemalatha, Ashleigh Gardner, Harleen Deol, Sophia Dunkley, and bowlers Sneh Rana, Georgia Warehem, Mansi Joshi, and Annabel Sutherland. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Indians will be led by India captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Like their opponents, they also picked up 18 players in the February auction. Key players include batters Harmanpreet Kaur, Hayley Matthews, Hamaira Kazi, Neelam Bisht, Yastika Bhatia, and bowlers Issy Wong, Sonam Yadav, Pooja Vastrakar, Amelia Kerr and Nat Sciver-Brunt.

The toss for the match was initially scheduled to be held at 7pm IST, with the game itself set to begin at 7.30pm. Now, the toss has been shifted to 7.30pm and the match, subsequently, to 8pm. The opening ceremony itself is set to start at 6.25pm, according to the BCCI's statement. 

Opening ceremonies are something that the IPL has done away with but this is a new league and, moreover, marks the beginning of something that could fundamentally change the landscape of women's cricket in the country, if not the world at large. There are some big ticket celebrities who are going to dazzle up the place at the DY Patil Stadium before the real action begins between Mumbai Indians and the Gujarat Giants. Let's sink our teeth into the occassion.