Bollywood superstar and Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner, Shah Rukh Khan, who is keen to see his men stride away with the title in the Indian Premier League (IPL), understands that victory and defeat are part of the game. He cited his passion for cricket as the reason for his participation in the sport.
“I've been saying this all the time that I am a sportsperson by nature and I'm here because I love the game. Winning and losing are part of it. Team wise, maybe earlier we had made a few mistakes and so we thought of areas to correct ourselves,” he maintains.
The Kolkata men are scheduled to lock horns with the Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 22, 2011, at their home ground of Eden Gardens. Khan is delighted that the team players are gelling well together and is certain that their perfect coordination will prove beneficial for their game.
Answering a question regarding Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion from the squad, he said that the team needed to go through the transition. He added that the matter needlessly turned into a controversy because the message did not effectively reach across to the people of Kolkata.
“It was unfortunate that we couldn't retain Dada but we had to go through a change and try and do something new and different. But Dada was always going to be part of our plans. We want him around to be there and guide the new team,” claimed the franchise owner.
The presence of the high-profile movie star brings the Kolkata Knight Riders in the limelight and puts stress on the owner. However, Khan refused to be stressed and vowed to give his best performance on all fronts. He offered empathy to his team, saying that the players sometimes take too much burden upon themselves.
The Kolkata roster has cruised to the high rankings of the IPL hierarchy this season. However, they tasted their second defeat of the IPL season when the Kochi Tuskers Kerala rose to a 6-run victory against them at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday, April 20, 2011.
King Khan’s side has been earning their victories mainly due to the performance of a few stars in the top order. All-rounder Jacques Kallis plundered three half centuries in the starting fixtures of the tournament. Gautam Gambhir has stood not out and sealed wins against the Rajasthan Royals with his dazzling strokes. Manjor Tiwari also exposed his sturdy side in the recent encounter against Kerala, when he scored a tally of 46 off 51 balls.
On the other hand, the Royal Challengers, who seemed to have swapped fortunes with the Kolkata side, are on a losing spree this season, as suggested by their consecutive defeats against the Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super Kings.
The luminary King Khan has taken a break from his busy Bollywood schedule in order to fully enjoy the IPL tournament.
0 comments:
Post a Comment