Opening Ceremony of ICC Champions Trophy 2009

If you want to get the live score and updates of the Pakistan vs West Indies Champions Trophy match, then visit the following link:

Pakistan vs West Indies Live Action: ICC Champions Trophy 2009

If you want to get the live score and updates of the match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, then visit the following link:

South Africa vs Sri Lanka Live Action: ICC Champions Trophy 2009

Creating huge excitement among the cricket fans, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 is going to be started from tomorrow (Tuesday) with the opening game between host South Africa and Sri Lanka. This year the tournament includes only top 8 test playing countries on the basis of ODI ranking. Champions Trophy always comes second after ICC World Cup in ODI cricket in terms of importance. However, Champions trophy has never become as big a tournament as the world cup. One of the reasons is that the tournament has seen too many changes in its format over the years and the timing of the tournament was not always suitable. However, that does not mean that cricket fans did not bite their nail during the tournament.

The upcoming edition of Champions trophy is significant from another point of view. This is considered to be a tournament upon which the future of ODI cricket lies. You perhaps know that the ODI format of cricket is now struggling for its survival as twenty20 cricket is gaining more space day by day. A number of former and current players have already raised their voice in favor of twenty20 form of the game and they want ICC should stop ODI cricket which has lost its popularity since the inception of the 20-over format. So, success of Champions trophy 2009 is very important for ODI format of the game.

Well, I am a bit surprised to see that no information regarding the opening ceremony of the tournament is available in the media. It is a very prestigious tournament where only the best cricket playing countries take part. Naturally, the opening ceremony of Champions Trophy 2009 should have got more exposure in the international media. The same thing happened during IPL 2009 which was also held in South Africa.

South Africa will host FIFA World Cup 2010. So, South African media needs to be more active to give good coverage of this kind of event. Anyway, still I got some pictures of the preparation of a grand opening ceremony of Champions trophy from Cricinfo.

It is expected that dancers and singers will perform in the ceremony. As far as I know, Zulu (an ethnic community in South Africa) dancers will perform with the bit of drums and other instruments, wearing their traditional outfit. You may experience some acrobatic shows and fire works by the professional performers. I hope ICC President David Morgan, Cricket South Africa (CSA) Gerald Majola, and at least an influential South African leader will be present at the opening ceremony. I will not be surprised if I see legendary leader Nelson Mandela present at the opening ceremony of Champions trophy.

Well, the information I have given above are not official. I just used my experience of watching many opening ceremonies of important cricket tournaments to guess that these events might take place tomorrow at the Champions league 2009 opening ceremony.