Ganguly, SRK ensure positivity prevails over Knight Riders captaincy

It was a scene straight out a Bollywood potboiler.

There was everything from drama and action to some much needed emotion as well. But at the end of it all it was clear as to who the boss was – Shah Rukh Khan.

The co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders clearly knows how to deal with pressing issues and deftly at that. On Friday, a day before the DLF-IPL2 is due to kick-start, Shah Rukh used all his expertise to diffuse a tricky situation.

Knight Riders had just announced a change of captaincy and New Zealand wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum was anointed the new skipper for the season by Director of Cricket John Buchanan. It was a brave decision considering the backlash expected back home over the easing out of Sourav Ganguly from the top job.

Trust Shahrukh to tide over the situation.

Soon after the decision was made public, Shah Rukh was around at the team nets at Bellville Cricket Club around 40-minutes away from the city centre. Accompanied by co-owner Jai Mehta, Shah Rukh watched the session. The superstar even had his son Aryan take part in the training session with the team.

Finally, after about an hour and half, Shah Rukh took Ganguly aside and had a long chat with him right behind the nets. It was animated at times, some smiles were exchanged and then Jai Mehta joined in.

After about 45 minutes, Ganguly headed back to the nets this time with Shah Rukh in tow. It later emerged that Shahrukh had claimed that he could get Dada out. The duo then proceeded to see if the new challenge could be won or lost.

Shah Rukh bowled a few seam-up deliveries keeping his left shoulder stationary. He has recently been operated on his shoulder. Ganguly kept requesting him to be careful. “Dekh lo, aapke left shoulder pe zor na pade,” said Ganguly but Shahrukh wanted to bowl a few deliveries and sweat a bit.

Even Aryan bowled a few deliveries and was prepared to be hit by Dada. Andy Bichel, the Knight Riders bowling coach, was observing the proceedings. Ganguly kept encouraging the Khans and was even beaten once by Shahrukh. “It bounced and seamed away, not bad,” said Ganguly as he played out some 20 deliveries from Shah Rukh, his son and a couple of other support staff members.

As the sun began to set, Ganguly had finished nearly three hours of practice on a day when some may have felt that he had been treated unfairly.

At the end of it all, Shah Rukh and Ganguly had clearly managed to bulldoze the negativity that had been generated from the change in captaincy. Shah Rukh himself tried to play down the whole issue. “The cricketing staff, including Dada himself, made the decision. I just feel this decision will ensure that he will be under less pressure than before. He can just play freely and without any tension,” said Shah Rukh.

Pressed to comment further on the possible signal being sent out to Ganguly, Shah Rukh just put it in a way everybody understood. “I used to at one point of time do films like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, now I do films like Chak De! India. So the times are changing, with Dada it is something similar. He understands what we are thinking. He is still our man and will be the man we all turn to at all times for advice. McCullum will lean on him for support.”

Shah Rukh's day under the searing sun ensured that all the misconception of the new things being tried out by his team would not get diluted. Just to spice up things further, Shah Rukh even offered to play next season when the DLF IPL heads back to India.