The IPL carnival seems to have arrived in South Africa as the teams paraded on open bus tops – sans some of the bigger names. M.S. Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir were all conspicuous by their absence, yet, the event went on like a pre-planned and colourful festival. In the end, a beaming Lalit Modi would have felt mightily relieved at the start after months of speculation, security concerns and constant yo-yoing of schedules. The tournament will start from 18th April and will see the Mumbai Indians take on last year’s runner-up, Chennai Super Kings, while the second match will see Bangalore Royal Challengers face the Rajasthan Royals.