A touch of rap to glamour, glitz

Kolkata (PTI): The 'City of Joy' opened its heart to the cricket world as a dazzling Bollywood-style opening ceremony kicked off the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here today, with American rapper Pitbull and superstar Shah Rukh Khan stealing the limelight. The city let its hair down with SRK, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone grooving to the desi moves, leaving the healthy turnout at the Salt Lake Stadium enthralled. It reached a crescendo when the evening's biggest attraction of them all, Pitbull, took to the stage.

The 120,000 capacity football stadium transformed into a magical kaleidoscope of Rabindra Sangeet, Bollywood dance, songs and, above all, unfettered enthusiasm as the 2013 leg formally opened with all the nine team captains taking the ICC Spirit of Cricket Pledge, 'Play hard, play fair'.