The IPL kicked off in style with a stunning opening ceremony that left the spectators awe-struck. ” I haven’t seen an opening ceremony as stunning as this one ” echoed many of them. It was totally magnificient. If the opening ceremony was like that, the match was all the more stunning.

Brendon McCullum and Saurav Ganguly walked in for the Kolkatta Knight Riders and were right there from the first over. The team reached 50 in just 4 overs. Ganguly was struggling at the other end though McCullum kept belting the bowlers. Even he struggled a bit initially but he admitted that the felt the pressure and was a bit nervous at the start. But once he kept rolling, there was no stopping him.

He went from strength to strength and wasn’t merciful at all. He kept smacking the ball all around the stadium as though playing a school game. Trust me, the Bangalore Royal Challengers had a better attack than it appeared to be. But McCullum was exceptional. It was one of those days where in you can just enjoy the display. The fact that the next highest score was 20 by Ricky Ponting says the entire story. The paddle shot that he played Zaheer Khan over fine leg for a six was just tremendous. There came a point when you could just tell what would happen the next ball. He was unbeaten at the end with a score of 158* in just 73 balls.

Bangalore Royal Challengers were never even close to matching the performance. The were bundled out for a meagre 82 in reply to 222 for 3 by Kolkatta Knight Riders. The wickets kept falling in heaps. What was good to see was the way the Kolkatta Team played together. It looked as though it wasn’t the first time they were playing together. Ricky Ponting, David Hussey, McCullum, Ganguly, Hafeez, Ishanth etc. every one kept enjoying each other’s success. What a site?

McCullum was given with a orange helmet that is kept in every stadium for all the matches which is to be given to the player of the day, just in reply to Tour de Frances’ yellow jersey. He fittingly deserved it. There are more fire works today with Chennai Super Kings taking on King’s XI Punjab and Delhi taking on Rajasthan Royals. Lets wait and watch even this.