Shah Rukh Khan's Absence from KKR v MI IPL 4 Eliminator Match Because of Fans?

Conspicuous by his absence was Shah Rukh Khan, the Kolkata Knight Riders franchisee owner, in the important IPL 4 eliminator. Was his best friend Karan Johar's birthday the only reason or did the cricket fans send him scurrying away from the cricket stadiums?

shah rukh khan cheers

Shah Rukh Khan may be a big Bollywood actor, entertainer to the core and beloved by his fans. But he is realizing that winning over the cricket fans is going to require some heavy lifting. And it seems the sensitive side of Shah Rukh Khan showed up on the night of the important IPL 4 eliminator between the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders because he certainly did not.

It is hard to imagine that Shah Rukh Khan, who normally travels with an entourage that includes his family and Bollywood clique to the KKR matches, would miss the match that was being staged in his adopted home, Mumbai. Instead of being at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Shah Rukh Khan was home in Mannat instead of cheering his team on at the stadium. There is little doubt that many of his friends from the film industry would have been only to happy to be part of the group.

However, while some suggested that it was Shah Rukh Khan's friend Karan Johar's birthday that prevented the KKR franchisee owner to join his team at the stadium, it seems that even if his friendship stories abound his abundance, it seemed highly unlikely that he would sacrifice the opportunity to cheer his team at an important time in the tournament.

There are, however, conspiracy theories doing the rounds. One of the facts acknowledge several times, even on crickblog, is that Shah Rukh Khan has been trying to woo cricket fans to get behind his team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, particularly fans based in Kolkata. Instead he was greeted with brickbats for not retaining or rebidding for Sourav Ganguly. The empty stadiums at the Eden Gardens bore bare evidence and Shah Rukh Khan's attempts appeal to the fans by praising Dada failed to strike a chord.

Now it appears with Ganguly joining the Pune Warriors at a replacement player, there was going to more of the Ganguly versus Shah Rukh Khan played out for obvious reasons including lending some hype to an otherwise sedate IPL tournament. And Shah Rukh Khan has not enjoyed the fans giving up a negative response even though his team prevailed over the Pune Warriors.

The only other time that Shah Rukh Khan deliberately stayed away from KKR matches was when his team was in a downward spiral in South Africa during the IPL 2 season. Claiming it was too much to bear and doubting the luck factor of his presence, Shah Rukh Khan had returned to India. However, this time his team has been on a high and despite the loss, they should be proud of the progress they made and instead the KKR team is mired in more controversy over SRK's absence and Gautam Gambhir's injury.

If the fan reactions have been so compelling to keep Shah Rukh Khan away from cricket stadiums in the future, it does not say a lot for the franchisee owner he is supposed to be, to be intimidated by a bunch of fans. Sensitivity can be a tricky quality for someone who calls himself a 'badshah'. Perhaps Shah Rukh Khan will come out with a more plausible reason in time to come as to why he failed to turn up at the stadium and chose instead to party with pals at home.