IPL 2018: The captains pledge for the Spirit of Cricket to be recorded one day prior to the opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League is always looked upon as an exciting event in the calendar. Every year, we have witnessed various Indian and international artists glorifying the occasion with their presence. It’s the day when all captains of the franchisees come together at one platform to sign the Spirit Of Cricket pledge.

However, this time around the BCCI may altogether drop that idea. In fact, they’re planning to record the captain’s pledge in advance. This is being done to avoid players from travelling issues since they’ll be playing games in different states from the very next day. The IPL is set to commence from the 7th of April as Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings lock horns.

If we have the event in advance, teams can happily strategise and make last minute plans

Earlier the ceremony was scheduled to take place at the CCI. However, the venue was changed to the Wankhede stadium prior to the opening game. A senior BCCI official suggested that the move was being considered so that captains don’t miss the eve of their opening games with their respective teams.

“Having the captain’s pledge at the Trident Hotel in Nariman Point on April 6 means that all the leaders can go back to their respective teams before their opening games. With the opening ceremony now on April 7, having the pledge live would mean keeping Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik and R Ashwin away from their teams on the eve of their opening game on April 8. So, if we have the event in advance, they can happily strategise and make last-minute plans before the game,” the official said as quoted by Cricket Next.

One of the franchise officials was thrilled with the possibility of the same. While he felt that the decision entirely rested upon the BCCI, it was in the interest of the franchisees to have captain’s pledge in advance. He further told that the captain’s presence was valuable in case some plans or decisions need to be taken at the last minute.

“See, while it is up to the BCCI to decide on these things, having the captain’s pledge a day in advance augurs really well for the four teams that are playing on April 8. It is the opening game for you in the tournament and you don’t really wish for your skipper to stay away from the team as there are many last-minute plans that need to be chalked out going into the season opener,” he told CricketNext.

Here’s the full RCB squad