When the first season of IPL was about to start in 2008, there was a lot of hullabaloo. ShahRukh Khan’s Red Chilies Entertainment company jointly owned by Juhi Chawala and Jai Mehta and Khan, bought the franchise of the Kolkata Cricket Team and named it Kolkata Knight Riders. The television was flooded with the advertisement campaigns of Kolkata Knight Riders depicting them as the clear winners of the IPL Season 1. For those who have joined in late, Indian Premier League is not a football event. It was established as a money making cricket program by the “Board of Cash Control India”, sorry, “The Board of Cricket Control India”. Millions of Dollars, Crores of Rupees has been spent by the franchisees to buy players and build their respective teams. Millions of dollars have been spent for organizing a dazzling cricketing extravaganza like the IPL seasons. Many of them got jobs some of them got over paid though. Some players at least got a chance to play some cricket with international players under television cameras and massive crowds.
Ok I guess we were talking about Kolkata Knight Riders. IPL Season 1 was a disaster for them. After making so much glitter, they started the IPL Season 1 well with a 158 run unbroken record made by Brendon Mccullum. This record is still unbroken by any player in the 20 Twenty cricket structure. Brendon Mccullum hardly made runs after that record. Kolkata Knight Riders lost crucial matches in the first season and could not reach the semis. Shahrukh Khan and his team got involved in a lot of controversies within the team. Season 2 started again with controversies around the Knight Riders. Sourav Ganguly was removed from captaincy and Brendon McCullum replaced him. Oh Yes! There was also a wave at the 11th hour that John Buchanan, their Coach, was planning to have four captains for the team. This got later deluged. Kolkata Knight Riders have been able to win only one match out of their 11 in the Second Season of IPL which is being held at South Africa.
Shahrukh Khan has packed his bags and I guess has returned to India or probably he has gone to some isolated island into deep remorse. He I am sure would not like to see the faces of his team members any more. There are rumors that he is planning to sell the franchise to someone else. I mean he is looking for buyers, but who would buy? The more games the KKR is loosing, the more depreciating is their value. Is it fate or is it mismanagement that the Knight Riders have been failing miserably? Or is it that the players are not performing? Whatever it is, the Knight Riders have failed to prove that they are doing justice to the Golden Armor that they wear. Shahrukh Khan must be banging is head on a wall for spending millions on his team’s razzmatazz. Not to forget, designers like Manish Malhotra had been roped in to design the costume for the KKR team. Isn’t he expensive too?
What next will Mr. Khan do? Is he going to sell the team off? Is he going to kick all the players out and bring in a new set of players? Is he going to fire John Buchanan? Is he going to make Sourav Ganguly the captain again? Is he going to play himself? Whatever he does, Kolkata Knight Riders are very low on morale at this moment. They do not need cheer leaders to cheer them up. What they need is to blow lesser trumpet and perform on the field. All the Best KKR for 2010.
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