Stand by my team

The new season of the Indian Premier League hasn't started yet, but Shah Rukh Khan, owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, found himself in the midst of a controversy after the auctions last week, following allegations that the team wasn't interested in retaining players from Bengal.
The allegations gained steam after Bengal players Manoj Tiwary and Lakshmi Ratan Shukla weren't picked up by the team during the IPL Season 7 auctions.
Responding to the reports, at a press conference to announce a new show based on his team's journey in the IPL that will be aired on the Discovery Channel, Shah Rukh said, "We chose the team with a certain plan (in mind). We have paid more attention to Indian players in the team this time round, while overseas players are back-ups. That was the big ideology. Lakshmi, Manoj " they flourished with KKR. But in the auction, it's a choice between being professional or emotional. The rates were high and we had to let go of certain players. I'm really sad about that. We do have three young Bengali players, and we will train them to become the pride of Bengal."
SRK asserted just how important the team was to him when he said that he would never consider selling the franchise, no matter what KKR's fortunes in the IPL turned out to be. And the team certainly has seen its fair share of ups and downs in the seasons so far. From being among the bottom lot of performers to becoming the champions in Season Five, their journey has been documented in the Discovery show, called Living With KKR. Airing a video clip on the team's milestones, SRK said, "Watching this makes me want to cry... once you see it, in retrospect, you want so much to win. At the end of it all, it's black or white " so win it. That's my message to youngsters. I'm sorry if it sounds too basic, but you have to fight hard and give your best."
The superstar was quizzed about the similarities between being a team owner and an actor, and if KKR's initial struggles had felt like delivering a flop film. But Shah Rukh said the two experiences weren't too similar. "Losing the IPL isn't tougher than making a film. I live on films " that's what I do. Yes, I also play a little bit of cricket. To have gotten into this space, where I'm responsible for every cricketing decision... I'm not trying to justify anything " I stand by my team. Just like for my films, whether I'm the actor or the producer, I stand by them."
However, the actor admitted that winning was certainly more of a universal experience. "Winning the IPL was like having a monkey off my back," he said. "It's like Chennai Express ne '200 crore bana liye, ab chup raho yaar!"
In a conversation about his journey in the IPL, it's difficult not to bring up the infamous incident in 2012 where he argued with a security guard at the Wankhede Stadium after his team won a match there. Does he miss watching matches at Wankhede after he was banned from the stadium grounds? "No, I'm quite happy watching them on my 50-inch TV screen," says Shah Rukh, qualifying it with, "It's not about ego."