Bringing the Indian Premier League (IPL) to South Africa is a means of saying “thank you” to South Africa for its hospitality and warmth over the years, says Kolkatta Knight Riders co-owner and Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan.

Fondly known as the Tom Cruise of Bollywood, Khan lands in Cape Town on Tuesday in time for the league at the weekend. His team has already been training in Bloemfontein for two weeks.

The Kolkatta Knight Riders, owned by Khan, Indian businessman Jai Mehta, and his Bollywood actress wife, Juhi Chawla, is one of the eight teams participating in the IPL this year. Khan, 43, has made several trips to Namibia and South Africa, visiting Joburg, Durban, Cape Town and, more recently, Sun City, but this trip will be special because it will be his first visit “with the kids”. He is expected to arrive with his wife, Gauri Khan, son Aryan and daughter Suhana.

The family would stay for a few weeks, mostly in Cape Town, he said.

He said he was really looking forward to the tournament.

“South Africans are such warm people, very welcoming, very open and friendly.”

He said the tournament was significant for his team because the whole team would be in town, unlike last year when some players did not take part.

“We’re hoping to see some of the wildlife and we’re really looking forward to meeting some of the people again… and drink some good South African wine,” he said.

He was expecting some competition, but the team were aiming to make the top six and hoping to secure a position in the top four teams of the tournament.

“But South Africans won’t need to worry – as an actor and as a film-maker I can assure you we will put on a good show.”

Despite his claim to fame as a Bollywood legend Khan has always had deep roots in sport, particularly cricket. He recalls a stint as a “good” wicketkeeper when he was 19.

Khan said he had been working on many projects, mostly to do with sport, because as a teenager he was involved in many sporting codes, including hockey and cricket, which took priority.

“Many youngsters never really had access to these sports. In our country you can’t really make a career of it. So I wanted to create something that my son could be involved in one day. When I was young playing cricket wasn’t really considered a profession, so I really wanted to create a platform for young people to develop their skills and talents. I look at it as a part of my social responsibility.”

Given that his name Shahrukh means “face of the king”, it is not surprising the star is currently the top actor in India, according to Internet critics.

Khan has won several awards for his outstanding performances in Darr, in 1993, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, in 1995, Dil To Pagal, in 1997 and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, in 1998. He owns three production houses in India, Red Chillies Entertainment and Idiot Box, and runs the Dreamz Unlimited production company with co-star Juhi Chawla and director Aziz Mirza.

So what about Slumdog Millionaire?

Khan, who turned down a role in the movie, said he personally wanted to make the movie.

“I’ve said it’s not an Indian film, it’s a foreign film, and how India is portrayed in the movie is not the point of the film. The film is not about the country. But it was very well done. I think it turned out far better than if I had done it.”
Source – iol.co.za

Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan is confident increased availability of international players will make the team more competitive in the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The franchise finished sixth in the inaugural IPL when they struggled to build momentum with various departures and arrivals of non-Indian players, whose participation was cut short by international commitments.

But while Australia captain Ricky Ponting has ruled himself out of this season’s glitz-and-glamour Twenty20 spectacular to rest, Khan believes the presence of other foreign stars will boost the Knight Riders.

“Internationally, I think the players will be more available, so we have the whole team to begin with,” he told a media conference at a five-star hotel soon after arriving in this south-west city.

“We’ll have Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum, and then David Hussey will join us when Gayle has to leave. Brad Hodge is here, and so is Sourav Ganguly. Everyone has been practising over the past 10 days.

“We are working on amazing plans, including the captaincy issue, which has been a controversy over the past month. I think overall we are very well prepared.

“Unfortunately, we do have injuries but we’ll be there, one hundred percent trying to do much better than last year.”

English stars are competing in the Twenty20 league for the first time, but none will represent the Knight Riders, due in no small part to high price tags.

“We have gold and black as a uniform, but the gold is not real,” joked Khan. “We are a poor team and English players are very, very expensive.

“We would really like to have had them, but the auction rules and it’s down to how much money you have.”

Khan said the franchise was looking to appeal to a young fan base and encourage children to become more involved in sport, and admitted image was their main attraction.

“I don’t know about the cricket,” he said, “but we are the coolest-looking team.”
Source – google.com

Beverages major Coca-Cola India Tuesday announced a new communication initiative for its sparkling drink brand Sprite featuring Bollywood star and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) promoter Shahrukh Khan and cricket star Sourav Ganguly.
The campaign will be launched during the second season of the IPL Twenty20 cricket tournament in South Africa starting from April 18, Coca-Cola India said in a statement.
“As part of brand Sprite’s 360 degree communication plans, Shahrukh Khan, the Bollywood superstar and owner Kolkata Knight Riders, Saurav Ganguly, the captain of KKR and other members of the team, including Murali Karthik and Ajit Agarkar would feature in a new campaign to be aired during the IPL,” it said.
Sprite is an associate sponsor and the official ‘pouring partner’ of the KKR IPL franchise team.
The campaign would include mass media, besides leveraging out-of-home media through special location specific creatives.
In addition, Sprite and Nokia has launched a ‘Para´ (neighborhood) cricket series in Kolkata. Eleven players from contest would be taken to South Africa to cheer for KKR, it added.
Source – livemint.com

Termed as the world’s best opening pair in the current times, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were ready for the IPL action in South Africa starting from the 18th of April.

Gambhir said that the IPL would be an ideal platform to gain quality T20 experience before the start of the Twenty20 World cup scheduled in England.

“It’s a blessing in disguise for us to play IPL in South Africa before the Twenty20 World Cup. We hardly get to play Twenty20 matches. But to get the chance to play 14 to 15 games in IPL against world class players will definitely help us in our preparations for defending the crown,” the stocky left hander mentioned.

Gambhir has had a dream series against New Zealand and would look forward to continue his good form going into the second season of the IPL. Gambhir laid emphasis on the fact that success in international cricket mainly depended on the security of the player’s position in the team.

Gambhir’s opening partner Sehwag, spoke about the condition of pitches in South Africa and the help it offered to the pacers. “Pacers will undoubtedly have an edge in South Africa because of pace and bounce but that’s good for batters too as they can play their shots on such conditions,” the Delhi dasher said, while speaking to newspaper reporters during a send off event organized for the Daredevils team.

Sehwag also mentioned that the Delhi crowd would be missed by him and his team during the IPL 2009. “We will miss Delhi crowd in South Africa but hopefully, there will be sufficient support for us in South Africa,” he said.
Source – cricbuzz.com

The Delhi Daredevils won seven of their 14 games last year in the Indian Premier League before losing in the semifinals to the eventual winners, the Rajasthan Royals, by a massive margin of 105 runs.The Daredevils are captained by Indian batting supremo Virender Sehwag. The leading run-scorer for the Delhi side in last year’s inaugural event, and second overall, was Gautam Gambhir, who scored 534 runs in 14 games at an average of 41. Sehwag scored 406 runs in 14 games with a highest score of 94 not out.

The team also boasts stars such as South African batsman AB de Villiers, retired Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath, New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori and exciting Australian newcomer David Warner, to name a few.

21-year-old Indian Yo Mahesh was the main destroyer with the ball for the Daredevils last year, taking 16 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 23.12.

Sri Lankan fast bowler Farveez Maharoof took 15 wickets in just 10 games at a superb average of 16.60.

The team is coached by Australian Greg Shipperd and is owned by the GMR Group.

Bollywood star Akshay Kumar is the brand ambassador of the Delhi Daredevils franchise.
Source – thetimes.co.za