The BCCI has decided that the six captains of IPL franchises barring Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, won’t need to attend the opening ceremony scheduled on April 7. Till last year, the convention was to have an opening ceremony a day before the first match, which captains would attend and sign the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ pledge.
This year it was decided at the IPL Governing meeting that opening ceremony would be held in Mumbai on April 7 before the first match between MI and CSK.
On April 8, there is a double header with Delhi Daredevils taking on Kings XI Punjab in Mohali at 4 pm while RCB will meet KKR in Kolkata at 8 pm.
“IPL team should have done their homework. They are calling Gautam Gambhir and Ravichandran Ashwin a day before an afternoon match. That’s absolute lack of homework,” a senior BCCI official told.
“Sample this. If Ashwin and Gambhir would have attended the opening ceremony, they could only boarded a 9pm flight from Mumbai to Delhi as there are no late evening flights from Mumbai to Chandigarh.
