IPL opening ceremony money donated to families affected by Kashmir attack

Normally the richest T20 league in the world is opened with a lavish ceremony featuring Bollywood stars and all manner of performances, but the money for it will instead be given to the bereaved families...

Indian cricket's Committee of Administrators have announced that there will be no opening ceremony for the 2019 Indian Premier League.

Normally the richest T20 league in the world is opened with a lavish ceremony featuring Bollywood stars and all manner of performances.

However, this will not be the case for the 12th edition of the tournament which starts on March 23.

The money which would have been spent on it will instead be donated to the families of the 42 military personnel killed in the suicide bombing in Kashmir on February 14.

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"We will not have any inaugural function for the IPL and the money budgeted for that goes to the martyrs' families," said Committee of Administrators [CoA] chairman Vinod Rai.

BCCI acting president CK Khanna said: "I am very happy that CoA has taken a good call to donate the money to the martyrs' families.

"Since the entire budget allocated for the IPL opening ceremony is being donated for a noble cause, the amount of is expected to be significantly more than 5 crore (£500k)."

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