Taking a mild dig at Sourav Ganguly who joined Pune Warriors, Kolkata Knight Riders' co- owner Shah Rukh Khan said his team has done well in the IPL without the services of the former Indian captain.
Published: May 07, 2011, 11:01 AM (IST)
Edited: May 07, 2011, 11:01 AM (IST)
The superstar however admitted that some of the old KKR players like Chris Gayle “came back to haunt” his team © Getty Images
New Delhi: May 7, 2011
Taking a mild dig at Sourav Ganguly who joined Pune Warriors, Kolkata Knight Riders’ co- owner Shah Rukh Khan said his team has done well in the IPL without the services of the former Indian captain.
Shah Rukh also said that KKR had offered Ganguly a role in the team but he was not really game with the assignment that the franchise had in mind for him.
KKR, who dumped Ganguly for the ongoing season were in for a shock as Pune Warriors roped in the former India captain as replacement player for injured Ashish Nehra.
“I have been often asked this question. We would have liked Dada to play in the scheme of things we wanted,” the Bollywood superstar said during a promotional event, making it clear that Ganguly didn’t like what was there in the offing.
Incidentally, KKR’s CEO Venky Mysore had earlier said before the start of the tournament that they would like Ganguly to play the role of a ‘mentor’ which he had refused.
Although Shah Rukh didn’t directly point fingers at Ganguly’s leadership skills but he did admit that there was “not one but many reasons for the team not doing well in the previous seasons.”
“This time we wanted to start off with a clean slate. We wanted to give the reins to the coaching staff. And they have done wonderfully. The team has been doing well,” Shah Rukh commented.
The superstar however admitted that some of the old KKR players like Chris Gayle “came back to haunt” his team.
Shah Rukh in a diplomatic style, concluded, “Dada is my favourite player. But we need to move on. I wish him all the best with Pune Warriors and hope that he does really well.”
© PTI
