Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) – The brand to reckon with:
If someone is wondering what the above headline is about, it means (We Will do for it, fight for it, Win it). It is theme of Kolkata Knight Riders. It is owned by none other than Bollywood heavy weights namely Juhi Chawla Mehta and Sharukh Khan.
Problem of plenty:
Ever since birth of KKR, they have been cynosure of all media and advertisers. One can understand this if a team is owned by Sharukh Khan and Juhi Chawla and being captained by Sourav Ganguly, it’s something quite natural. KKR is today’s advertisers dream girl, even in days of recession. They have plenty of stars which can confuse any media, to whom they can incident their focus on with likes of Shoaib Akthar, latest Srilankan Carrom sensation Ajantha Mendis, Chris Gayle, Brendon Mc Cullum , David Hussey. Even recently it was said that they stroked a 5 crore deal with Coca – Cola, which is quite astounding.
Controversies:
Kolkata Knight Riders always have their edge not just through their playing eleven, but their play ground, which could host 90,000 people. Any opposition is going to feel the pinch and pressure to perform in Kolkata. There were lot of controversies regarding shifting of venue from Kolkata to Ahemadabad, as Sharukh Khan had some issues with local state cricket authorities. But it turned out to be just a rumour as it was cleared after Dalmiya called on Sharukh Khan.
What’s going to be this season flavour?:
Although KKR didn’t fare well last season, as they lost some key players like Brendon Mc Cullum and Chris Gayle dint play because of injury. 2009 season is going to be lot more different with their presence. Only blemish in the present kitty is they can’t avail the services of Shoaib Akthar and Umar Gul this season owing to political problems in Pakistan. Hopefully presence of Ishanth Sharma, Ashok Dinda can nullify their absence with good bowling.
Crossing Horizons?:
There was lot of pep talk that some IPL matches involving Kolkata Kight Riders will be played in Bangladesh; because of the way Bangladesh fans have endorsed them. It actually got fortified with fact that they went on to snatch Mortaza, Bangladesh fast bowler for a price above 4 crores rupees which is 12 times greater than his base price.
They also have a bankable bench strength, with John Buchanan conferred with coaching mantle and Mathew Mott assigned the post of assisting him and Andrew Liepus former Indian team physiotherapist serving them.
It was said that Kolkata Knight Riders who dint even make semi-finals last year, was first team to break even last year itself in IPL with profit said to be around 13 crores; one wonders what will be the case this year, with the teams winning chance looks optimistic.
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