T20 match is multiplex of cinema halls: SRK

KINGS ON CHAT: Shah Rukh Khan (L) and Sourav Ganguly speaking to CNN-IBN's Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai.

          

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Rajdeep Sardesai

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Rajdeep Sardesai: Are you surprised with how big the IPL has become, Sourav? Were you initially sceptical?

Sourav Ganguly: Cricket will always be big in this country. Whether it is Twenty20, Test Cricket or One Day. It can only get bigger.

Rajdeep Sardesai: I fail to understand why on a Wednesday night, when the rest of the world should be working, people of Calcutta were all going to the Eden Gardens?

Sourav Ganguly: That’s because they are crazy about the team and Shah Rukh.

Rajdeep Sardesai: The other thing that has struck me is the number of senior cricketers who are doing so well in this Twenty20 format. That, in a way, bolsters the point that class is permanent.

Sourav Ganguly: I’ve always said its not about the age, but it’s about performance.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Have you also been stunned, Shah Rukh, by the sheer support that this tournament has got; particularly in Kolkata?

Shah Rukh Khan: We were given a choice to choose our centre and, not deriding any other centre, I think good sense and logic said that Kolkata has a club culture; it’s the place where we should go. Second, I’m not stunned. I had assumed that IPL would be 70 per cent of what it is right now. Nobody believed me then. Everybody said regional things don’t work and nobody’s going to follow it. But I thought it’ll peak, it’ll plateau and then it’ll peak again. The only difference is that the plateau is at a higher level than I thought it would be.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Is this the new form of entertainment? Instead of watching a film, people come to watch the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Shah Rukh Khan: It will be jumping the gun if we assume that straight away. But I can tell you why it is entertainment. I think, one, it is reality. Two, it’s the kind of entertainment which is wonderful where you don’t have to break for a meal. Third is music, the colour, notwithstanding the cheerleader controversy.

Rajdeep Sardesai: But do all the cricketers embrace this concept?

Sourav Ganguly: The moment it comes to winning and losing it gets intense because you have reputations at stake. I have captained Indian for six years for nearly 200 games but still I don’t walk into the field to lose.

Shah Rukh Khan: The first day when we were playing in Bangalore , Sourav said, “You know, I’ve captained this country and I have played a lot of matches. I know this stuff, man but I’ve never been as nervous as I’m being right now, going and leading this team on.”

Rajdeep Sardesai: Is it about winning at the end of the day that drives you?

Shah Rukh Khan: Life is like that, Rajdeep. Personally my belief is: Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo. That’s what life is about and I make no bones saying that. When I say winning, I don’t mean going and winning that one match. I mean having that ideology that we are going to do our best.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Sourav are you a complete convert to Twenty20 cricket? I’m asking you this because there was a feeling six months ago that the senior cricketers were reluctant to play this game but you’ve embraced it.