Teamwork on field, tension on face

After Knights' victory on home ground, SRK speaks of controversies that hurt him

PRATIM D. GUPTA

Shah Rukh Khan after the Knight Riders' victory at the Eden Gardens on Monday. Picture by Amit Datta Calcutta, April 10: Not that there were too many spectators but this was one stage where Shah Rukh Khan did not need to act. The jaws stayed taut for most of the match and it was only in the very last over, when it was all but clear that the Kolkata Knight Riders were winning the first home game of the season, that the owner allowed himself a wave and a string of flying kisses. Shah Rukh himself spelt it out in a post-match chat: "I was very tense. More than losing, what has hurt me are the controversies surrounding the team. We really needed to win this one for the people of Calcutta, on my home ground.…" He had almost made an invisible entry — Ra.One promotion, was it? — into a new-look Eden that wasn't a full house — far from it really. He showed little excitement through the match, standing on the balcony sipping his cola and occasionally clapping with a straight face. But in the last over, SRK unfurled his trademark waves of the right hand and all-round throws of the flying kiss. By then, after a disappointing last-ball away loss to M.S. Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings, the Gautam Gambhir-helmed new-feel Kolkata Knight Riders had started their 2011 campaign at home on a winning note beating the Kumar Sangakkara-led Deccan Chargers. The victory margin was just nine runs but what was heartening was the manner in which the KKR won. Never for a moment across the 40 overs did they look like losing. Juhi Chawla with Man of the Match Jacques Kallis. Picture by Amit Datta It was a refreshing team effort, not a sudden Gayle storm or a meteoric McCullum missile. Not even a stray episode of Dadagiri. Iqbal Abdulla, with whom Gambhir opened the KKR bowling, picked up three crucial wickets and Man of the Match Jacques Kallis scored a solid 53 off 45 balls and took four catches, while Manoj Tiwary (30 off 21) and Yusuf Pathan (22 off 15) helped the KKR reach a comfortable 163. But for Shah Rukh, it was a special appearance, to be honest, at the specially earmarked B1 lounge. No Aryan and Suhana for company, not even wife Gauri by his side. SRK didn't look like his usual ebullient self, perhaps bogged down by all the talk of his role in team selection and of leaving Sourav Ganguly out in the cold. Wearing a purple tee with "CV" written in gold on the left arm and dark denims, SRK chatted mostly with The Telegraph columnist Suhel Seth and KKR CEO Venky Mysore. He also spent considerable time with Jagmohan Dalmiya inside the air-conditioned section of the lounge. Also seen in B1 were mayor Sovan Chatterjee, film-maker Sujoy Ghosh, KKR co-owner Juhi Chawla, her husband Jay Mehta and SRK's friend Karim Morani. Not really the star-studded turnout a KKR corner is synonymous with. Maybe a couple of more wins and the Sushmitas and Raveenas would play ball again. Out on the field the Kolkata Knight Riders started with a big bang and never let the momentum slip. Early wickets having been a perennial problem for the KKR, the opening pair of Kallis and M.S. Bisla scored 50 in under eight overs. The much-touted Protean battle was settled when Kallis creamed Chargers spearhead Dale Steyn for two boundaries in the very first over. Over Two saw Bisla getting the better of Ishant Sharma. The same Ishant Sharma whom KKR had bought for a record amount before IPL 1. The same Ishant who had failed over three years, first in black-and-gold and then in purple-and-gold. You couldn't possibly miss the wry grin on Shah Rukh's face when Ishant dropped a catch at the boundary. Ishant was on the losing side again. But not the KKR, not on this night. Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110412/jsp/frontpage/story_13843561.jsp