His Holiness Dalai Lama will grace a ceremony at the newly-built stadium in the hill town here just before the start of an IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings scheduled on April 18. "The Dalai Lama has accepted the invitation of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) to attend the opening ceremony of an IPL match on April 18," said Tenzin Takla,secretary of the Dalai Lama Takhla said since a major international event is being organised at Dharamsala,the Tibetan spiritual leader agreed to grace the occasion with his presence. HPCA spokesman Sanjay Sharma said HPCA president Anurag Thakur had sent an invitation to the 74-year-old noble peace prize winner to grace a ceremony at the newly-built stadium and the Tibetan temporal head graciously accepted it. "His (the Dalai Lama's) presence would definitely add colour to the mega cricketing event here," Sharma added. After fleeing from Tibet due to a failed uprising against Chinese authorities in 1959,the Dalai Lama is living here which is also headquarter of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Dharamsala is scheduled to hold two IPL matches on April 16 and April 18. Kings XI Punjab would take on Deccan Chargers on April 16 in the first match. The town has already played host to several first class matches.
