First day, first show

History is set to be created at the Chinnaswamy Stadium when a multi-million dollar 'sportainment' event finally gets underway. In the past this stadium has separately hosted cricket matches and Miss World pageants but for the first time, entertainment and sport — in that order — will happen on the same evening. Which of the two comes out on top at the end of the night will perhaps determine which way the tournament goes from here.

For their part, Bangalore fans will be hoping that their team gives a 'Royal' beating to Team Kolkata in the inaugural match on Friday night while the visitors will be hoping to ride on some luck and pluck to beat back the 'challenge' of the hosts. Fortunately for them, the organizers, thanks to the local association, have also remembered to lay out a lush green outfield and a cricket pitch too, despite being busy with important things such as a stage for the artists, power lasers hung from the rooftop, massive speakers all along the ground and innumerable promotion material all over the place.

The pitch though, is not expected to play much of a part with the people in charge having no doubts that it will play the same way for the entire 40 overs. But will the much-hyped cricketers, all of whom have been signed up for enormous sums of money, be able to live up to expectations and deliver a cracker of an opener and set the tournament off? That remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure, there is no dearth of stars in either side, with both sides led by former Indian captains and containing a host of international stars, with four from each side allowed to take the field as per the rules of the tournament. By that yardstick, as also the total prize money of Rs 12 crore (the winner gets Rs 4.8 crore), this is not just another domestic tournament as the presence of match referees, third and fourth umpires, also indicate.

Welcome to the Indian Premier League, the carnival of cricket that will see performers from the world over doing their bit in the middle even as every ground makes space for a stage off-field for non-cricketing performers to play their part. Big money has attracted the biggest of stars and led to an international integration that will see Australians team up with New Zealanders, South Africans with Sri Lankans and Indians with Pakistanis. Forget about sledging between teams, now we may have to watch out for sledging amongst team-mates, even if the team members seem to be getting along fine at practice sessions.

As for the opening match itself, both teams spent Thursday evening at the nets, practicing normal cricket as well as some special T20 stuff. Team Bangalore had played out a practice match on the pitch adjoining the match pitch and so can be considered better prepared but in this short format, execution perhaps play a larger part.

Things happen so fast that plans can go awry and captains need to be on their toes all the time. If Rahul Dravid, the Bangalore skipper, has players such as Jaques Kallis and Mark Boucher with the experience to help him out on the field, Team Kolkata's Sourav Ganguly will not have to look further than the world's most successful captain Ricky Ponting for support. As for the combinations on the morrow, both teams will probably end up spending more time on deciding it than the three hours that a T20 match takes.