Calcutta: Shah Rukh Khan believes the Kolkata Knight Riders’ cool attitude has made a difference to their fortunes this season.
“The team is cool and calm… Gautam (Gambhir), (Jacques) Kallis and (Yusuf) Pathan bring a lot of calm to the side… The juniors have complemented the seniors… Dav (Whatmore) and the support staff are responsible for this turnaround. We don’t have any tension and believe in performance,” the KKR principal owner said at a promotional organised by Nokia on Saturday.
Shah Rukh said the team didn’t wish to be influenced by talk about making the playoffs or winning the title. “Whenever I’ve spoken to Gautam or Dav, it’s not been about the semis or final… The talk is always about the next match. That’s been the whole attitude of the team. They always look together. We’ve been patient, resilient, honest and hardworking. Even if we win the final, I’ll not be tension-free. We’ll be confident… One of my desires has been to win the IPL for this city… I’ll be happy if I can achieve this.”
But how tough has it been to be associated with the side without Sourav Ganguly and the emotions surrounding him? “We respect the emotions of the city. We still play for Dada and KKR… We would have loved him to be our mentor. As a son of the soil of this country, I belong to every city... I’m Shah Rukh Khan, son of India. They’ll all love me if I win it for the city.”
He said he felt a certain closeness with the people here. “I feel extremely close to the people of this city. I hardly get to meet people. I left Delhi when I was too young and I’m too busy in Mumbai. That’s the reason I do those victory laps after every game…”
Meanwhile, Sourav’s wife Dona will be among the thousands of Calcuttans, who will root for Pune Warriors India when they take on the KKR on May 19. “I will be among many fans in Calcutta, who will be supporting Pune Warriors,” she said.
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