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IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi had promised that the third edition of the Indian Premier League would be bigger and better than the previous seasons and he seems to have left no stone unturned to fulfill his promises. The opening ceremony of IPL 3 will be a huge event and there would be a bunch of international celebrities and Bollywood stars performing in the gala event. Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone will dazzle the spectators at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai with her scintillating performance. Amongst the performers in the IPL opening ceremony are Deepika, Internation R&B singer Akon, Ali Campbell of the British reggae band UB40, Björn Again and Lionel Ritchie. The performances in the opening ceremony is expected to start with Ali Campbell of the British reggae band UB40 singing the evergreen hit song “Can’t Help Falling In Love” which will be followed by Bjorn Again entertaining the audience Abba’s super hit Dancing Queen. This performance is promised to be spectacular with visual effects too. Then there will be a choreographed light show announcing Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone’s entry. Deepika and the forty dancers on stage with perform a medley of songs including I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas, Uff Teri Ada from Karthik Calling Karthik and Twist from Love Aaj Kal. This will be followed by performances from Lionel Ritchie and then Akon. The IPL opening ceremony would be grand and Bollywood stars, celebrities, cricketers, corporate biggies, politicians and several other eminent personalities are invited to the opening ceremony. After the opening ceremony, there would also be a post-match party cum fashion show at a posh hotel in Mumbai.

The opening ceremony would be telecast live on Set Max from 6 PM Indian Standard Time.

The oldest and most popular television network in the United Kingdom, ITV has been awarded TV rights for broadcasting this year’s edition of the Indian Premier League in the UK. The IPL was without a television broadcaster in the UK after collapse of Setanta last year. However, IPL had announced that the matches would be streamed online free on Youtube all over the world. ITV bagged the rights for television broadcasting in UK and they will show 59 of the 60 matches this year on one of their digital channels ITV4.

This will also mean that cricket coverage in the UK will return to free-to-air after a long time as ITV4 can be seen free by almost 80 percent of the UK and around 20 million households in the UK should be able to view the matches. The only match that will not be shown, because of a commitment to show British Touring Car Championship racing from Thruxton, is between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils on April 4. It is also a landmark event as live cricket will be shown for the first time since 1970s. The feed will be provided by Sony and will be fronted by presenter Matt Smith and Bollywood actress Mandira Bedi.

IPL had introduced the strategic time-outs last year during IPL 2 and they had told that they would continue with the time-outs in IPL 3 this year too. The IPL management has finally clarified the strategic time-outs for IPL 2010 and there are a few changes this year. One of the most significant changes is that the strategic time-outs have been reduced from seven and a half minutes per 20 over innings which was there in IPL 2 last year to only five minutes per 20 over innings this year. The five minute strategy breaks or time-outs have been divided this year into two time-outs of two and a half minutes each. The batting side can ask for the time-out anytime between the sixth and eighth overs while the bowling side can ask for the time-out anytime between eleventh and sixteenth overs. The IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said that the main purpose of the time-outs was to allow teams to discuss strategies during the game so that extra time is not wasted in discussing strategies during the course of the game and thereby reducing match-time delays. However, some of the franchisees still have a bit of concern as they fear that even this short delays might break the player’s concentration.

DLF Indian Premier League season 3 will be broadcast live on the world most’s popular video streaming website Youtube after IPL and Google who own Youtube signed up a deal. Under the agreemement, all the matches of IPL wil be broadcast live on all countries except United States which will have re-broacast options. One of the most significant benefits of this deal for the viewers is that the viewers can choose between different camera angles. The viewers will also be able to pause and rewind the live feed. The viewers will also be able to watch live replays at any time during the day. The deal is for 2 years as of now and will give Google exclusive online rights for IPL content for two years, with both parties sharing revenues from sponsorships and advertising. The IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said that he is hopeful to take IPL to international markets beyond the cricketing nations with this new move.

The official IPL channel on Youtube is also mentioning the same and it might be possible that the official channel itself shows the live feed. The link to the official IPL channel on youtube is:

http://www.youtube.com/ipl