IPL 2015, opening ceremony: As it happened...

Live updates from the opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League being held at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

New Delhi: After the rain delay, the Bollywood celebrities enthralled the crowd at the Salt Lake Stadium with their back-to-back performances.

10:35 pm - That's the end of the ceremony! We hope you enjoyed the start of the event as well as our coverage! 

10:33 pm - Saif invited all the performers from Bollywood - Pritam, Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Farhan Akhtar and Hrithik Roshan for one final time, they waved towards the crowd and the fireworks adorned the sky! 

10:24 pm - Hrithik Roshan is here to show his out of the world dance skills! His first performance was on the song 'Ik Pal Ka Jeena' from his debut film 'Kaho Na Pyaar Hai'. Hrithik ended his performance with a 'Dhoom Macha Ley' performance. That could go down as the performance of the night!

Our show-stopper of the night caps off the #PepsiIPL #OpeningNite in style. pic.twitter.com/b8Q6Oz7v5w — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 7, 2015

10:02 pm - Bollywood's rockstar, the multi-talented Farhan Akhtar is here! He entertained the audience with several songs from his superhit movie Rock On!

The versatile Farhan Akhtar rocks on at #PepsiIPL #OpeningNite pic.twitter.com/bBvoLysiRW — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 7, 2015

10:00 pm - The crowd goes gaga as local hero Sourav Ganguly is shown on the big screen. The camera was once again back to Saif before crowd started cheering "Dada, Dada" and he was once again shown on the screen and waved towards the crowd.

09:46 pm - Saif announces the name of the next performer - Bollywood siren Anushka Sharma and the crowd cheers, "Virat! Virat!"

Here is Anushka Sharma sizzling the stage at #PepsiIPL #OpeningNite pic.twitter.com/hMXFkaW5Ya — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 7, 2015

09:43 pm - Saif does a poll for crowd's favourite cricketer. He mentions Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir. All three Indian cricketers get a huge cheer from the crowd.

09:40 pm - Saif Ali Khan is back and there was a video which showed the flashback of all the previous winners.

09:30 pm - The Bollywood stars are all set to rock the event and Shahid Kapoor is the first one to enthrall the audience! He is dancing to his own songs from Bollywood movies.

09:25 pm - Time for captains to sign. MCC Spirit of Cricket Pledge. MS Dhoni was the first one to sign it, JP Duminy, George Bailey, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma is next, Shane Watson is next, Virat Kohli is next and Dhawan does the honours in absence of David Warner. The captains pose for a group photo before leaving the stage.

The #PepsiIPL captains pose with the prize they will play for. #OpeningNite pic.twitter.com/jEhelT6yhM — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 7, 2015

09:16 pm - Ravi Shastri has taken over the proceedings.

09:16 pm - KKR's skipper Gautam Gambhir comes to the stage with the trophy in his hands, the crowd is ecstatic to see their local skipper!

09:12 pm - Time to welcome the skippers. Rohit Sharma is the first man in for Mumbai Indians. Dashing left-hander Shikhar Dhawan for Sunrisers Hyderabad. JP Duminy for Delhi Daredevils. Shane Watson for Rajasthan Royals. Virat Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore, comes to the stage with the loudest cheer from the crowd. George Bailey for Kings XI Punjab. MS Dhoni for Chennai Super Kings. 

09:11 pm - He tells the crowd how India had got a new season - Pepsi IPL

09:10 pm - Saif Ali Khan comes to the stage!

09:07 pm - the ceremony kicks off with a traditional Bengali song written by Rabindranath Tagore - "anondo loke, mongola loke..." where several women are performing with lamps in both their hands! Bollywood music composer Pritam is behind the mic!

9:00 pm – The good news is that the rain has stopped and we can't wait for the action to begin!

08:10 pm - Like lakhs of fans, Anushka Sharma too wants the rain to go away.

All set for IPL opening night Now fingers crossed for it to stop raining for the hoardes of people that have turned up for the show — MEERA (@AnushkaSharma) April 7, 2015

08:05 pm - Unfortunately, it's still raining...

Guys, it's still raining in Kolkata. Next update at 20:30 IST. #PepsiIPL #OpeningNite pic.twitter.com/4RM1uyLU7j — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 7, 2015

07: 50 pm - The latest update is that it's raining at the Salt Lake Stadium. The celebrities and everybody else is just waiting for it to stop!

The highlights of the Opening Ceremony:

Renowned Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan will host the ceremony.

The event will start at 7:30 pm IST and is likely to last for two and half hours.

Bollywood celebrities - Anushka Sharma, Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar will be performing at the event.

All eight captains will be present at the event and will take the MCC Spirit of Cricket Pledge.

Captain of defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders - Gautam Gambhir - will put the trophy back in play. This will signal the official start of the tournament

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders start their campaign against Mumbai Indians here at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

After a pulling off a controversy-free tournament last year, the organisers would again be hoping for a smooth run when the 47-day tournament starts.

The eight teams will be involved in an intense battle in these 47 days and one can expect plenty of high-profile shows mixed with nail-biting moments.

The IPL season starts after the recently concluded ICC 2015 Cricket World Cup which saw Australia winning its 5th trophy.