Page 249 - IPL 2

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In Conversation with Shah Rukh Khan...

Shahrukh, you’re an insanely busy man. There is lot of demand on your time. When did you think you could take out time to run an IPL
Team, because this is a lot of responsibility and involves time pressure?
To be honest, I didn’t know it would take up so much of my time. Initially, I thought owning a team would all be about the guys going
out to play a bit and notching victories in the tournament. And since this was conceptualized and created by a friend of mine, Lalit, I
thought this would be one great experience.

The fi rst year was very exciting as everything fell into place fast and the tournament was underway. During Season 2, I had injured
myself and so could not shoot. I had all the time to myself and devoted most of it to the IPL. This was the time when I realized that the
quantum of time and attention that IPL demands is immense. This is the reason that I do not get involved in the details of the workings.
I have many good and capable people who are working round the clock to ensure that everything goes smoothly. At best, I look into the
marketing part of the KKR franchise.

But this is still a learning phase for me and I am trying to understand how the business works. Ironically enough, I was never that
interested in knowing how the business of cricket works and what is being done to promote the sport in India. But after getting into
the IPL, I can fully comprehend the work done by the BCCI, and wonderfully so at that.
And now in Season 3, I have decided that I will only attend the matches that will be played at the Eden Gardens, which is the home
ground for KKR. I want to enjoy the game as much as encourage my team for a better performance. I am hoping and praying that KKR
emerge the Champions in IPL 2010.

Would you like your team to dislike losing as much as you do yourself?
In a celluloid version, I would picturise this as a scene in which 10 kids are running a race and one kid falls down. The other nine stop,
they go back, pick him up and they all cross the fi nish line. It’s a happy ending and I hope for the same from my team. But, I also realize
that this just a sweet scene in a fi lm, and far removed from reality. My logic is very selfi sh, very capitalistic, very mean, very self
centered, very egotistic, but I truly believe that when you run, you run to win and you are not supposed to lose. This has been the life
philosophy of Shahrukh Khan, one which I have shared with my kids, friends and now my team.

When you heard that the IPL might be moving out of the country for the fi rst time, what was your reaction?
It was frankly a very mixed one bordering on the good and the bad. Let me explain: Bad because we were not going to be playing in
Kolkata, which meant KKR fans would not be there to back the team. To be honest, I want everything to happen in Kolkata, because for
me IPL is Kolkata. Other centers are fantastic but to me Kolkata is where the IPL is. I enjoy it there the most, because I love the energy
at Eden Gardens. Where else in the world would a stadium accommodate 1 lakh people for any match? So it being shifted from India,
actually Kolkatta, was depressing.

The good part was that the stadia in South Africa are much better. Support facilities such as hotels, travel, fl ight connectivity etc are
also good there. The stadia management allows everyone to be comfortable – no one is pushing you, you are not jostling around. I did i know it must have been depressing for McCullam to see his team
not have to give tickets to anyone, I did not have to sell the corporate boxes, and I did not have to do the business of IPL. I just had to
go there and enjoy a match. I was very happy. Moreover, the weather conditions in South Africa were great for me, but maybe not for lose, but I thought his resilience and goodness really displayed courage
cricket – three of our matches got washed out. When it got washed out as we were losing it was nice, but when it happened when we under fi re and he held himself with such dignity. It must have been hard
were winning we had an excuse.
for him to smile after those losses, but he did, and I really appreciate
Your boxes in the stadium were always a party. But you seemed unaware, almost mesmerized by every ball. that. For me, his spirit was the most outstanding thing about the IPL.
My son, Aryan and I, we feel every ball. We want every ball, to be hit for a six when we are batting. We want every ball to take a wicket.
We are absolutely, unintelligently involved in cricket. We do not know the sport in any other way apart from wanting to win it and “
wanting to win it only! If it falls short of our expectations, then we are sad and disturbed. SHAHRUKH KHAN, CO-OWNER, KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
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