Kolkata based IPL franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders was one of the most celebrated franchises during the initial part of the tournament. Owned by the Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan, and led by the Prince of Kolkata Sourav Ganguly, they had all those elements in them that could help them become one of the popular franchises of the tournament. But despite all these glamour and fanbase, they couldn’t make it big when it came to on-field performances. In his recent interview former KKR captain, Sourav Ganguly claimed that Shah Rukh Khan was the reason for that poor stint.
Expectations were high when Ganguly was named the captain of KKR way back in 2008. His successful stint as India captain and his passion for Kolkata added to the already existing expectations. He was their Icon player and there was possibly no one in world cricket that could project themselves as the face of Kolkata at that time.
Under Ganguly, the team started off their tournament on a high but later faded away as many of their top international recruits like Brendon McCullum and Ricky Ponting left for national duties.
During his latest interview, Ganguly claimed that he never had the freedom of choice in KKR. All the major decisions regarding the team were taken by the management under Shah Rukh Khan and the coach John Buchanan. He added that he never had any voice in the decisions, even though he demanded it.
“I was seeing an interview where Gautam Gambhir said Shah Rukh Khan had told him in the fourth year ‘This is your team, I will not interfere.’ That’s what I told him in the first year. Leave it to me. It didn’t happen,” Ganguly was quoted as saying in an interview with Gautam Bhattacharya on his YouTube channel.
“The best IPL teams have been those that have left the team to the players. Look at CSK, MS Dhoni runs it. In Mumbai also, no one goes up to Rohit Sharma and tells him to select certain players,” he stated.
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He went onto add that his entire three years in KKR were filled with miscommunication with the coach and the management. He also heavily criticized John Buchanan’s multiple captain policy and added that franchises have now learned to give time to the captain and respect their opinions.
“Thought process was the issue there. The coach (John Buchanan) believed we needed four captains. So, it was just a difference of opinion, he thought, ‘Let me have 4 captains, then I can run it my way’,” Ganguly added.
Ganguly was released by KKR ahead of the 2011 auction in what Shah Rukh Khan then described as a ‘Divorce under mutual understanding’. He went unsold in that auction and was later picked by Pune Warriors India as a replacement for injured Ashish Nehra.
Even though this move ignited a lot of protests in Kolkata it eventually benefited KKR in the long run as KKR under their new captain Gautam Gambhir won two titles in the coming years.
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