The grand opening ceremony of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) will be held at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

But, the main event will kick off on December 11 at the same venue with Chattogram Challengers taking on Sylhet Thunder in the opening match.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the seventh and special edition of BPL at 7pm. From 7:17pm, Indian artists Sonu Nigam and Kailash Kher will take the stage onwards. Following that, Bollywood stars Katrina Kaif and Salman will come to the stage and display their performance.

The opening ceremony will begin with the musical performance of local artistes at 5pm (Bangladesh time) where Bangladeshi rockstar James and Momtaz will perform.

“The honourable Prime Minister will inaugurate the opening ceremony. We’re ensuring the special arrangement for the Prime Minister. After her opening announcement, a grand concert will take place,” Nizam Uddin Chowdhury, BCB CEO, told the media on Saturday while announcing DTH provider Akash as the title sponsor of the BBPL.

“We’ve completed the preparations for the opening ceremony. The event will start at 5pm with the performance of local artistes. After that, James and Momtaz will perform before the Prime Minister inaugurates the BBPL. Katrina and Salman will perform at the end of the event,” Sheikh Sohel, the chairman of BPL governing council, told the media on Saturday.

The BCB arranged 8,000 tickets for the spectators who want to witness the opening ceremony. But only a few thousand will be available for the general spectators as the BCB had to give at least 4,000 tickets as complementary to the club officials, former cricketers, sponsors and the government authorities.

However, on a sudden move, the BCB announced on Friday evening that they are arranging more tickets to meet the high demand, but they did not reveal the number of newly available tickets.

The stage of the opening ceremony has already been installed at Mirpur. At the same time, eight giant screens have also been set up at the venue so that the spectators can experience the programme in a better way.

Three days after the opening programme, the battle of the field of BBPL will take place at the same venue. A total of seven teams will participate in this special edition of BPL which is rebranded as Bangabandhu BPL to pay tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman marking his birth centenary.

The teams are Dhaka Platoon, Chattogram Challengers, Comilla Warriors, Khulna Tigers, Rangpur Rangers, Rajshahi Royals and Sylhet Thunder. Five of these seven teams have secured a team sponsor each. The sponsor will get several marketing opportunities. But they will not get any authority to run the team as BCB cleared it earlier.

There is no franchise in this edition of BPL as the BCB manifested earlier. Instead of running the teams by the franchise, the BCB opted to operate all the teams by themselves. Along with top Bangladeshi cricketers, many international stars will also feature in this edition of BPL.

A total of 46 matches will be played. In the league phase, 42 matches will be played while in the playoffs, a total of four matches will take place. The final of the event will be held on January 17, 2020.