Rashmika Mandanna and Tamannaah Bhatia are all set to perform at the opening ceremony of Indian Premier League (IPL), to be held at 6pm today at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Ahead of their performances, the two actresses spoke about their favourite IPL players and what performing at the opening ceremony of the sporting event means to them.

“Definitely you know Dhoni, he’s been everyone’s favourite and I'm no different, and Virat. These two are my favourite players,” Tamannaah said in a video shared by IPL on Instagram.

Rashmika called all the players “top notch” but mentioned Dhoni and Virat when asked who her favourite players were. “Of course, Dhoni sir and Virat sir and all of our players are top notch,” said the Pushpa actress.

Talking about her performance, Rashmika said, “So i've always wanted to go and witness a match but I never got the opportunity but today I'm gonna be performing in the opening ceremony, so I’m like I made it.”

The video also shows behind-the-scenes moments from Rashmika and Tamannaah’s rehearsals for the opening ceremony.

When asked about her cricket watching habits, the Varisu actress said that she generally gets too anxious while watching the match, so she usually just looks at the final results.

Like Rashmika, Tamannaah too gets invested when watching cricket matches. “When I watch, I get very involved and very invested,” the Plan A Plan B actress said.

“Performing on stage is something I've enjoyed since I started my career but I do feel like everytime you perform on stage it's always very, very exhilarating and almost like this nervous energy that is inevitable,” Tamannaah added.

The 33-year-old actress also emphasised on how lucky she felt about getting to perform and sharing the limelight with Arijit Singh and Rashmika at the opening ceremony.

The first match in this season’s IPL, between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings, will begin at 7:30 pm today. The opening ceremony and the match will be streamed live on Star Sports and Jio Cinema.