SUDESHNA BANERJEE
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| CHEERLEADER: Shah Rukh Khan drums up support for Kolkata Knight Riders |
A new look, a fresh start and less pressure to perform — Shah Rukh Khan's New Year gift to his Kolkata Knight Riders boys.
The most visible and vocal IPL owner has decided to take a step back — only to give his "kids" more space to play to potential. "I was too hands-on. Dada (Sourav Ganguly) made me realise that," Shah Rukh told Metro in Mumbai, on the sidelines of the launch of the TV show, Living with a Superstar.
"I do business with emotions, but Dada told me 'Shah Rukh, you are such a good person and you are talking so much, but what's happening is they can't take the responsibility of letting you down'. The full team, including the foreigners, was bogged down by the pressure. Even Chris Gayle started crying one day after the team lost a match!"
Two disastrous IPL outings have made the Bollywood superstar admit that despite his long inspirational messages to each player, he has "not been able to break the ice with the kids" in KKR. "They are always overawed by me. It is like Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan) is for me. He can sit down and say, 'Yaar, kabhi bhi aya karo', par main kabhi bhi nahin jaya karunga. I can't just knock and say 'Aah, main aa gaya'. If Aamir says, if Akshay says — they are my age group — I can drop by, but not Amitji. It's the same for the young kids I try to talk to."
His new code of conduct in the KKR dressing room? "I just need to tell them 'Go out there and play'. They need to be happy. They need to go with that kind of freedom. I'll tell them, 'Win it, lose it, go for it'."
Does the boss being "more hands-off" mean a bigger role for the captain in IPL-3? "I will be leaving most of the things to Sourav," nodded SRK.
With John Buchanan's experiments with captaincy truths now history, Shah Rukh is batting big-time for his skipper. "I still believe, last ball, 20 runs, Sourav will hit it. How? I don't know. But I still believe."
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| Shah Rukh Khan with Sourav Ganguly on a Dadagiri set |
Taking fresh guard is vital and so KKR will have a brand new look when it takes the field against Deccan Chargers on March 12. The "unlucky" black-and-gold jersey is being redone by star designer Manish Malhotra.
In this too, Sourav has played a part. A few weeks back, the KKR captain had told a gathering of schoolchildren that the "colour black is clearly not suiting our outfit, so we will go for a change of shirt colour". The team owner confirmed: "The colour is being decided by Jay bhai (Mehta), Juhi, Sourav and some others. I am not superstitious. So I don't go into that."
What he does go into is ringing in structural changes. "A lot of changes are taking place —the coaching staff, the set-up, new training methods...." A lot remains to be done. Building better understanding among players for one. "We do not spend enough time together. So from next year, a practice session will be worked into the IPL schedule."
For all his stepping back and making behind-the-scenes changes, the bottomline for KKR this year remains bettering its IPL track record. "If my team is not going to play good cricket this year then the profits amount to zilch. Why do I have to stress about the controversies, feel sad when the team loses? I can make more money by doing what I do best," signed off the boss who means business.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100108/jsp/calcutta/story_11955572.jsp
http://shahrukhkhanz.blogspot.com
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