As cricket lovers get ready for a two-month-long celebration with the Indian Premier League starting on March 22 in a highly-anticipated face-off between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore, there’s a lot in store for music and film lovers too.

We have learnt that a grand opening ceremony has been planned at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium aka Chepauk Stadium, where musicians A R Rahman and Sonu Nigam will perform live. Actors Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff will also take the stage. 

A source close to the development shares, “The opening ceremony of the IPL will be a grand affair with a lot of Bollywood stars in attendance. This also marks Sonu’s debut performance at the event. He will be opening the show with a patriotic act. Then there will be a collaboration with Rahman.”

The insider adds that Rahman will also present a separate act with his group. “The duration of the entire show, including Akshay and Tiger’s performance, will be about 30 minutes. Sonu and Rahman will also present some Bollywood hits together. Besides the musical act, there will also be a never-before-seen AR (augmented reality) technology display at the opening ceremony,” informs the source.