New Delhi: The 15th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) started from today i.e. 26 March as defending champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have locked horns with last year's runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2022 season opener at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.
This year, no opening ceremony was held before the CSK vs KKR IPL 15 match. It is for the fourth year in a row that no IPL opening ceremony has taken place. The last time an IPL opening ceremony was held was in the year 2018.
WATCH | IPL 2022: Virat Kohli Gives A Long Heartwarming Hug To MS Dhoni During Practice Session
This year, BCCI felicitated Tokyo Olympic medalists before the season-opening match between Chennai and Kolkata. The Indian Olympic contingent won a record-breaking six medals at the Tokyo Olympics, last year.
BCCI awarded gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra with Rs. 1 crore, InsideSport reported. Apart from Neeraj, Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, Lovlina were honored at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Mandeep Singh, captain of the men's hockey team was also felicitated during the program.
Why was the IPL 2022 opening ceremony not held?
The BCCI has not been organizing the IPL Opening Ceremony since the Pulwama attack in February 2019. 40 soldiers were martyred in the Pulwama attack and the opening ceremony of IPL was canceled in honor of these martyrs. After this, the opening ceremony could not be held in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 threat. Even this year, the IPL 2022 opening ceremony got canceled for the same reason.