All eyes were on Karachi's National Stadium on Thursday evening where the fifth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) kicked off with style at a dazzling opening ceremony.

Twitterati could hardly contain their excitement about the tournament to be staged in the country in its entirety for the first time. Unsurprisingly, most of the top trends on Twitter in Pakistan were about PSL 5.

Users shared visuals from the National Stadium in Karachi where the country's top artists performed to a full house.

There was praise for host Fakhre Alam...

... and for the whirling dervishes who performed to the Sufi serenades of Sanam Marvi, Abu Mohammad, Fareed Ayaz, and rock band Soch.

Singer Sajjad Ali was equally lauded for his high-energy performance.

PSL founder and former PCB chairman Najam Sethi conveyed best wishes for PSL 5 on Twitter. "I pray the tournament goes off without a mishap to showcase Pakistan and bring joy to Pakistanis. And may the best TEAM win!" he wrote.

The excitement was palpable, as expressed in this tweet by federal minister Fawad Chaudhry.

However, some people were not too happy with some of the performers not singing live at the opening ceremony.

"Lip syncing and that too synced out. Unnecessary gaps between performances, sound system not good enough," wrote sports journalist Faizan Lakhani.

Host Ahmed Godil, who started the festivities by getting the crowd pumped up for the tournament, was the subject of many a tweet.

Even PTI MNA and television host Aamir Liaquat could not resist commenting.

Meanwhile, the British High Commission in Pakistan in a tweet welcomed the 14 British players taking part in PSL 5.

All in all, the colourful ceremony ended on a high note, with audience members getting thoroughly entertained by the pyrotechnics that ended the gala.

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Header image courtesy @thePSLt20 Twitter.