Defending champion Mumbai Indians was set to take on three-time champion Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League(IPL) 2020 opener on Sunday but due to the coronavirus pandemic the season has been postponed indefinitely.
We travel back 13 years to bring you the match report of the first-ever IPL game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders. Here is the personalised account of the Hindu sports editor K. C. Vijaya Kumar from the opening night of IPL 2008.
It was a regular summer day in Bangalore back then on April 18, 2008. The city-dwellers moaned about the dry heat and yearned for thirst-quenchers ranging from ice creams at Corner House to a frothy brew in a green-tinted bottle. But for the sportingly-inclined, it wasn’t just another day. The Indian Premier League was making its debut with host Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) taking on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
In the build-up to the toss, liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who then owned RCB, threw up a glitzy opening ceremony. There were laser lights, the famous cheer-leader troupe Washington Redskins performed their gig but when the match commenced, all that glitz paled in front of Brendon McCullum’s frenetic 73-ball unbeaten 158. KKR romped home in style, RCB remained shell-shocked and a turf used to Gundappa Viswanath’s poetry, was now burnt with the spitfire assault from the New Zealander. And for the scribes present there, including Your’s Truly, we just witnessed cricket’s tipping point.
Read K. C. Vijaya Kumar's match report which was published on Sportstar in 2008 here .
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