I’m a sportsman at heart: Shah Rukh Khan

Later, after visiting the Mumbai Indians’ dressing room and spending some ten minutes there, he spoke to The Telegraph.

The following are excerpts

First Knight Riders’ defeat seen by him in person

(Grins) When we won the first two matches in a row, (coach) John Buchanan told everybody that lots of cricket remained to be played… I’m a sportsman at heart and if we didn’t lose any match, then I’d feel odd… Of course, it would’ve been nice to again win in Calcutta, but our batting became unstuck at the beginning… I’m sure we’ll come back hard in the next match (on Thursday, in Jaipur).

The level of disappointment

There’s never a low for me… I can never feel low… There are times when my son (Aryan) runs a race but doesn’t come first… I’ve myself lost races… I’ve made flops but that doesn’t take anything away from life. It’s not that I like losing, though… I don’t and my team doesn’t like losing either… But, in sports, you win and lose… You pray for a miracle… Look for that one slice of luck coming your way… But that doesn’t happen… In fact, I believe that sports is the biggest leveller and sports teaches you to lead life… There’ll be good days and bad days.

Reaction to defeats

I feel happy for whoever wins… My parents taught me that I’ve got to be graceful in defeat and gracious in victory… So, I do the same things when I lose, like going over to the opposition dressing room… I wish them well and wish them from the bottom of my heart. I’m a winner because I’ve got this sportsman’s spirit… If you’re mean and sad about your losses, then you can’t enjoy your victories that much… It’s because of this attitude that I can, when we win, jump on the stadium’s roof and shout ‘we won’…

On Ricky Ponting and Brendon McCullum leaving for home

I’ll miss them… The boys will miss them… The team will miss them… They’ve been terrific in the dressing room and on the field… (After a pause) At the end of each match, I’ve been showing the team a dance-step… I showed two tonight as I wasn’t there in Chennai the other evening… I don’t talk cricket with the boys… That’s done by John and the others… I only bring positivity.

Having flown thousands of miles to make it for Tuesday’s match

Yes, it was difficult yaar… I was in London, then I went to Paris… From there back to London and, then, Mumbai before making it here just in time (on a private aircraft)… While it was difficult, I wouldn’t have missed coming to Calcutta for the world… I’ll be off tomorrow (Wednesday) morning as I’ve got to shoot for my TV show (Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain?)… Nothing stops me from going to all the Knight Riders’ matches… I do have shooting commitments which were finalised a year in advance but I could finish early and hop on to a private aircraft and land up in Jaipur or Mohali for the second half of the match… I was in London when we played in Chennai and I had to go on the stage… I remember becoming anxious and calling Juhi (Mehta, co-owner)… I told her that I wanted to be with the team and not in London… It’s not that I’m the luck factor or something… The reality is that we’ve got a good team and this team will bounce back.

The organisational bit of the second match at home

Like I said after the first match, we’ll be improving with every game… (Adds laughing) Hopefully, we’ll get everything right by the end of the IPL! I’m sure the spectators found it a nicer experience tonight, though the electronic scoreboard was too dim.

Finally, whether he brought traffic to a halt in Paris too the other day

(Laughs) Well, yes… And, you may not believe it, but there was a group of French girls with a banner which read ‘Korbo, lorbo, jeetbo re’… It was absolutely amazing.

The Telegraph India