Nothing wrong in Bengal government's KKR felicitation: Shah Rukh Khan

May 30, 2012

Mamatha_KKR

Kolkata, May 30: Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Shah Rukh Khan, also the state's brand ambassador, on Tuesday said there was "nothing wrong" in the grand felicitation organised by the state government for his IPL-5 winning team.


As Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee organised the fete involving Governor M K Narayanan and spent lavishly on the champions KKR side by giving them golden lockets, many ridiculed the move as it had been organised for a club team.


The team members were also showered with gifts from the hosts Cricket Association of Bengal who gifted the 17 members with 10-gram gold chain each including mememtos. Shah Rukh, however, stood by Banerjee and said there was nothing wrong in it.

"There is no harm in being happy and sharing happiness. Nobody should criticise it. It's alright to be happy. Let's not be political. It has been done because we all are happy. There is nothing wrong if we bring a bit of happiness to the city of joy," he said.


Shah Rukh said their celebrations were befitting as they had waited long for the moment.


"It is a humble moment, I must say. For the last four seasons, all the KKR players and our families were moving with a desire to win the cup.


"We had all come from different states - some had come from Mumbai, Gujarat, Delhi - and made this city our home. So we wanted to win the hearts of the Kolkatans. Today, I felt that I had won the heart of Kolkata," the actor said.


Even Governor Narayanan joined in the celebrations and said, "Today is the true 'paribartan' (change) that the Chief Minister had ushered in last year."


The city had come to standstill in the morning as all the roads led to the Eden Gardens where the team's victory parade beginning from Hazra had culminated via a stop over at the Writers' Building.


About one lakh came on streets to cheer for the team as the 67,000 capacity wore a jam-packed look during the one-hour celebration that was no smaller than India's World Cup victory lap at the Wankhede last year.


With capacity crowd inside the gates had to be closed as about 30,000 had to wait outside as the programme ended with chaos and mayhem with several injured in the mob-like atmosphere.


Knight Riders tasted first success in five outings when they defeated Chennai Super Kings by five wickets in the IPL summit clash on May 27 to be crowned IPL-5 champions.




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News Network
June 23,2020

Karachi, Jun 23: Pakistan cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and rookie Haider Ali on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed three players - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan - have tested positive for Covid-19," said the PCB in a statement.

"The players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men's national cricket team's tour to England."

The infected players will go into self-isolation.

"The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation," the statement said.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was tested positive for the deadly virus.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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News Network
May 8,2020

New Delhi, May 8: India skipper Virat Kohli believes cricket in empty stadiums is a real possibility in post COVID-19 world and though it is unlikely to have a bearing on the intensity of players, he feels the magic would certainly go missing.

Cricket Boards across the globe are exploring the option of resuming the sport in empty stadiums. There is speculation that fans could be kept away from stadiums in a bid to salvage the T20 World Cup in Australia, which is currently under threat due to the global health crisis.

"It's quite a possible situation, it might happen, I honestly don't know how everyone is going to take that because we all are used to playing in front of so many passionate fans," Kohli said in Star Sports' show 'Cricket Connected'.

"I know it will be played at a very good intensity but that feeling of the crowd connecting with the players and the tension of the game where everyone goes through it in the stadium, those emotions are very difficult to recreate," he added.

Kohli said the many moments which are created because of the passion brought in by fans, would be missing.

"Things will still go on, but I doubt that one will feel that magic happening inside because of the atmosphere that was created.

"We will play sports how it is supposed to be played, but those magical moments will be difficult to come by," he said.

Cricketers such as Ben Stokes, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Pat Cummins have backed the idea of playing behind closed doors.

However, legendary Australian Allan Border has said it would defy belief to host a World Cup without spectators.

Another Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and some other cricketers have also expressed similar sentiments.

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