Shah Rukh Khan lashes back at Gavaskar

Shah Rukh Khan, owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, has hit back at Sunil Gavaskar's comments about franchise coach John Buchanan, and asked Gavaskar to stay away from issues concerning his IPL team.

In his column for the Hindustan Times, Gavaskar termed Buchanan a "failed former cricketer making a living telling international players to do what he couldn't do". It has not gone down well with the IPL franchise, which last week tried to put a lid on the controversy generated by Buchanan's theory of multiple captains by releasing a statement that during a game the team would resort to a group of "strategists" who would report to one on-field captain while making decisions.

Khan has come to Buchanan's defence, saying there was a marked difference in the time Gavaskar played and now. "I respect Mr Gavaskar - his knowledge about cricket is a billion times better than me," Khan told reporters in Mumbai. "But this is an era where Mr Gavaskar has not indulged in; nevertheless his knowledge about the game does allow him to make comments.

"This is a new format that's being tried out. Please give it some breathing space. I am the owner of the team, I bought it. If he wants to implement something, let him buy a team."

Gavaskar was scathing of Buchanan in his column, saying the former Australian coach had a way with words in India, a country Gavaskar said had few people capable of defusing opinion makers. "To comment on his multiple skipper theory is to give it the importance it doesn't deserve but what does require comment is how he has got his Queensland pals lucrative jobs with KKR," wrote Gavaskar. "They have a very big support staff which includes his son and most of them are from Queensland. The owners - poor souls - have little idea that they are being milked."

Gavaskar also said the Indian media granted unwarranted importance to Buchanan. "In India, where the media lives by the sound bite, Buchanan is a regular. If the Indian media had not made him out to be a 'super coach', he would have been just another failed former cricketer making a living telling international players to do what he couldn't at the first-class level," he wrote.

Buchanan's radical theory had stirred a controversy on the eve of the team's departure to South Africa, forcing a nearly four-hour long meeting between Buchanan, Sourav Ganguly, Khan and Jai Mehta, who owns a stake in the team, in Mumbai. A subsequent statement released by Kolkata stressed that there would be only one captain, who would be fed with suggestions from this core group of strategists.

SRK eager to join IPL festivities

Bollywood’s big-screen king, Shahrukh Khan, has taken a month-long break from his busy shooting schedule for the forth coming Indian Premier League cricket feast in South Africa.

Khan, who owns the Kolkata Knight Riders, one of the IPL teams in the tournament, which begins in Cape Town on April 18, will arrive in the country in the next two weeks accompanied by his wife, Gauri, their children, Aryan and Suhana, and his “beautiful mother-in-law”.

The IPL, a franchise-based Twenty20 competition organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, will run until May 24.

It was moved from India to South Africa because of concern that players’ safety could not be guaranteed since it coincided with the country’s general election.

In an interview with the Sunday Times Extra this week, Khan, 43, said he had a shoulder injury that was aggravated during the shooting of Billu Barber and had delayed his trip, or else he would have “come today”.

“I will be there throughout, celebrating the spirit of South Africa. The Asians and locals were so warm to me and my son when I came for the Twenty20 World Cup. It’s my duty, love and absolute allegiance to your beautiful land that make me want to be there.

“Also, with the Kolkata Knight Riders, the African wildlife will get even wilder, so be ready for Korbo — Lorbo — Jeetbo (the KKR theme song) to become the new call of the wild,” he said.

Khan said it was a chance “for me to say thanks to all my beautiful fans in South Africa”.

Last week, Bollywood beauty Shilpa Shetty, co-owner of reigning IPL champions Rajasthan Royals, arrived in the country for the planning of the IPL.

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said apart from the player parade, “the people of South Africa will witness a whole level of different activities, including a host of Bollywood celebrities and some community initiatives that we have planned to make the event memorable for South Africa”.