This year, Shah Rukh Khan’s IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders won the championship for the first time. And while Shah Rukh is known to never interfere in team matters, especially as far as performance is concerned, he stepped up to deliver an impassioned speech to motivate the players. In a recent podcast with Manjot Kalra, KKR cricketer Ramandeep Singh shared how Shah Rukh Khan created a real-life Chak De India moment in the dressing room with the team.
He shared that when KKR lost against the Punjab Kings, SRK came to the dressing room and gave them a pep talk. “Our entire core group had a meeting. Shah Rukh sir was also there, and that was a game-changing moment for our team. Shah Rukh sir gave a speech there. He usually doesn’t speak much, and is not that involved, but his speech that day gave all of us goosebumps. He told us what he expected from us, and what we should do. He reminded us of where we had come from, and where we want to go. He relates a lot to a middle-class family, because he also hails from one, so he feels our journey is very relatable to him,” Ramandeep said.
About their victory, he added, “Shah Rukh sir was very happy, we were all manifesting this, everyone believed that the core group that came together for domestic or international cricket, was the best. They all believed that we would yield results.”
Ramandeep also recalled how Shah Rukh Khan motivated the team following Harshit Rana’s ban for the flying kiss controversy. He narrated, “When Harshit got a ban for the flying kiss controversy, Shah Rukh sir said that now the team will win the championship and the whole team will send a flying kiss. And we did that. When he was banned, everyone’s mood was spoilt, that time sir said that we would win and have a celebration, so don’t lose hope.”
This year at IPL, Shah Rukh Khan was seen cheering for his team time and again, in fact, even after a health scare and hospitalization in Ahmedabad, the actor went on to support his team as soon he got discharged.
In an appearance on cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel, Gautam Gambhir said that SRK is the ‘best owner’ that he has ever worked with. “In the seven years of me captaining, we had not spoken 70 seconds about cricket. He had never asked me a single question on cricket in those seven years. Can you imagine?” he said.
