Knight Rider's Night Out

Party on the field, off it all night and sit back and relax all of next day. This was Team KKR’s mantra after winning a big match against the Delhi Daredevils at the Eden on Tuesday night.

The Knights headed for Dublin, the Irish pub at ITC The Sonar Calcutta, to celebrate their victory. The song that kicked off the celebration was Paisa fekh, tamasha dekh, and no prizes for guessing on whom everyone showered their paisa’s worth of attention.

Shoaib Akhtar, fresh from winning the Man of the Match award on his IPL debut, was quite the star of the show, with every member of Team KKR and some from the Delhi Daredevils cheering him as he entered Dublin a little after 2am. Pop went the champagne bottles — four of them — to uncork what was to be a night-to-morn round of revelry.

There were Ajit Agarkar, Ishant Sharma, Umar Gul and Salman Butt, joined by Virender Sehwag and Farveez Maharoof from the Delhi Daredevils. Sourav Ganguly, who usually slips away from parties post-dinner, decided to stay back and join in the fun.

The DJ for the first half of the night was actor Arjun Rampal, sporting glares and playing tracks from his laptop.

Shah Rukh Khan, who came later, tried his hand at deejaying, as did comedian and director Sajid Khan.

At first, the only one shaking a leg to the house music played by Rampal was his wife Meher. When Sharma demanded some Bolly beats, DJ Bosco — Team KKR’s official DJ — took over.

It was not long before everyone got onto the dance floor. Ganguly, too.

“It was the first time Ganguly danced at a team party. His teammates probably held him back; he normally has dinner and slips out. Shoaib was very animated,” said DJ Harish.

Shah Rukh was, as always, in his elements. He danced when his favourite English song, Rise Up, was played, followed by Khaike paan Benaraswalla.

“He was in a fun mood and wore a boat-necked greyish T-shirt, teamed with jeans,” said one of those who were at the party.

The KKR owner left by 4am. The last ones to leave were — guess again — Shoaib and fellow Pakistani Mohammad Asif, who plays for the Delhi Daredevils.

The party, which continued till 6.45am on Wednesday, took its toll on the players. The Knights overslept and chose to stay away from public eye throughout the day.

Karo Christine Kumar - The Telegraph India