Bangalore, Apr 18 : After too much of hype and speculation the much-touted Indian Premier League (IPL) kicked off today with glamour and pomp. The Bangalore Royal Challengers won the toss and invited the Kolkata Knight Riders to bat.

The Shah Rukh Khan-owned Knight Riders and Vijay Mallya's Royal Challengers started the 44-day Twenty20 tournament.

Anil Kumble of Bangalore Royal Challengers is not playing the inaugural match because of a groin injury.

"The opening ceremony is expected to only be a short function. I don't think it will affect the game that follows. Kolkata has a good side and we are prepared with strategies for them," said Bangalore captain Rahul Dravid before the start of the play.

"There is no clear favourite in the shortest version of the game. Difference between teams lessens in the T20 format, as the contest is too short. I consider this event as a contest between state sides with world-class players," said Kolkata captain Sourav Ganguly.

Squads

Bangalore Royal Challengers: R Dravid, Abdur Razzak, B Akhil, KP Appanna, J Arunkumar, wicketkeeperMV Boucher, S Chanderpaul, B Chipli, wicketkeeperSP Goswami, W Jaffer, SB Joshi, JH Kallis, Z Khan, V Kohli, P Kumar, A Kumble, Misbah-ul-Haq, AA Noffke, DT Patil, DW Steyn, LRPL Taylor, R Vinay Kumar, CL White

Kolkata Knight Riders: SC Ganguly, S Kaul, AB Agarkar, RB Banerjee, A Chopra, DB Das, CH Gayle, DJ Hussey, Iqbal Abdulla, M Kartik, SS Lahiri, wicketkeeperBB McCullum, Mohammad Hafeez, RT Ponting, CA Pujara, WP Saha, Salman Butt, I Sharma, LR Shukla, wicketkeeperT Taibu, Umar Gul, Yashpal Singh.

ANI