IPL 2024 Opening Ceremony highlights: Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff give epic performance, fans hail AR Rahman's medley

Fans sang praises for Akshay and Tiger's performance. “The way he performed today made me just speechless. Salute to you sir, you are living legend & very inspiring,” said one fan. Another said, “What an entry!” Fans also hailed Rahman's performance and called it "incredible."

Royal Challenger's Bangalore has won the toss and chosen to bat! Captain Faf du Plessis shared that the wicket and the pitch looks good to start with. Meanwhile, Ruturaj shared that he came to know about his captaincy just a week ago.

In the commentator's room, Sachin Tendulkar was asked to describe the style of Dhoni and Virat Kohli in one word each. He called Dhoni ‘instinctive’ and described Virat as ‘expressive’.

Akshay Kumar's performance- which included an epic entry with the Indian flag, is already a hit with fans! The official account of IPL shared a video of his entry on X and wrote: "Chennai erupts in joy as @akshaykumar leaves his mark at the #TATAIPL Opening Ceremony."

Watch here.

As the opening ceremony came to an end, all the performers including A R Rahman, Tiger Shroff and Akshay Kumar came on stage with the captains of the two teams. Fans cheered loudly for them.

A R Rahman concluded his performance with a fantastic rendition of his Oscar-winning song Jai Ho! Fireworks in the sky and loud cheers from the audience brought the extraordinary performance of the evening to an end.

A R Rahman made sure he included Chaiya Chaiya in his performance during the opening ceremony! With a host of singers, the maestro sang the much-loved song in Chennai.

A R Rahman put out a splendid performance of many hit songs from his career. Among them was the peppy and soulful rendition of Taal Se Taal Mila with a host of singers beside him on stage.

Fans were in for a surprise when Mohit Chauhan came out on stage and gave a soulful rendition of Masakali! Fans sang along with Mohit and cheered for him throughout the performance!

Music maestro A R Rahman is here! The singe gave a electric performance of Vande Mataram along with Sonu Nigam.

Sonu Nigam gave a spectacular performance in the opening ceremony with his rendition of Vande Mataram!

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan co-stars Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff took a round of the entire ring of the field with the Indian flag!

Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff started the opening ceremony with a bang! Amid loud cheers from fans, the stars went on to perform on a medley of hit songs, including Jai Jai Shiv Shankar, Main Tera Hero, Hare Ram Hare Krishna, and Mast Malang!

Fans have thronged the Chepauk Stadium! Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff are all set to start with the opening act!

Orhan Awatramani aka Orry is here! The internet sensation arrived in a white suit in the insider room and went on to show his helicopter shot! He said that he knows that the shot belongs to Dhoni and even called to throw a ball at him so that he could show his moves.

In the insider's room, it was Australia's Steve Smith who went on to predict that Ruturaj Gaikwad can win this year's Orange Cap.

Chris Gayle shared his ‘love and respect’ for Sachin Tendulkar, and shared how during one test match there was four runs needed to win and Sachin was batting. Chris said how nervous he was given he was the one balling.

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said, “Behind the scenes, Ruturaj and others have been on a captaincy grooming process looking forward to days like this and the opportunities come up but MS is the best judge and he felt the time was right.”

AB de Villiers took to Instagram to wish good luck to Royal Challengers Bangalore and Virat Kohli, ahead of the opening match of the Indian Premier League. He shared a throwback picture with Kohli and wrote, “Good luck my biscuit. Come on RCB!”

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan co-stars Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff are ready to set the stage on fire with their performance tonight. “Get ready to witness cricket ka asli magic with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan's electrifying live performance at IPL 2024's opening ceremony,” wrote the production banner on Instagram.

The energy is beginning to rise! A BTS glimpse from the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai showed that special seat bulbs were also installed in some of the rows. The video showed that fans started entering the stadium with the security in place.

Fans have started to enter the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai ahead of the opening ceremony. A video showed fans taking their seats inside the stadium. A fan even posted that they came to watch Tiger Shroff's performance.

Former Chennai Super Kings captain, MS Dhoni performed the famous hook step from Animal which had Bobby Deol in it, for a promotional campaign. “On popular demand! here’s a video of Mahi bhai grooving to my steps,” the actor wrote on his X account. Watch here

Virat Kohli is all set to mark his return to competitive cricket in the new IPL season after two months. He already holds the record for scoring the most runs in IPL history with 7263 in his combined 237 IPL matches.

In light of the IPL from tonight that will take place at Chepauk Staudium, Chennai Metro has reportedly extended metro services beyond 11 PM. This initiative is aimed for the fans to return home safely after the match.