ICC World Cup 2011 opens up with glitzy opening ceremony

BANGLADESHI PRIME Minister Sheikh Hasina declared open the 43-day long extravaganza ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in a glitzy opening ceremony at Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka on Thursday, February 17. The ceremony was attended by around 25,000 spectators.

International Cricket Council (ICC) President Sharad Pawar, ICC chief executive, Haroon Lorgat were also present at the stadium. The opening ceremony was jointly organised by the ICC and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

The 135-minute long opening ceremony began at Bangabandhu Stadium with the Bangladesh national anthem "Amar Sonar Bangla" composed by famous poet and nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Captains of all the fourteen participating nations entered the stadium in colourful rickshaws during the grand opening ceremony of the tenth edition of ICC World Cup 2011.

The opening ceremony of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 featured a laser show, fireworks display and cultural performances.

Canadian singer and Grammy award winner Bryan Adams rocked the show with his hits including "Lets make it a night to remember", "Summer of 69" and "18 till I die" among others. Indian music director trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy performed on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 official song, "De Ghumaa Ke" in three languages viz Hindi, Sinhalese and Bangla.

Indian playback singer Sonu Nigam, Bangladeshi singer Runa Laila, Sabina Yasmin, Momtaz Begum and Sri Lankan singers also enthralled the spectators at Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka as well as millions of viewers on television screens. More then  2,000 school and college students of Bangladesh also performed during the grand opening ceremony of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

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