Did Shah Rukh Khan almost own another IPL team instead of Kolkata Knight Riders? |

KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan (left) and 2024 batch captain Shreyas Iyer after winning the IPL. (Image: X/ShreyasIyer)

The Indian Premier League (IPL) season is about to begin and yesterday, IPL founder Lalit Modi shared some anecdotes about how the game came into being and how it then changed one of the most famous cricket tournaments in the world. He also spoke about Shah Rukh Khan’s interest in the game, how he came into the team and what his original team was like. Yes, you read that right, Kolkata Knight Riders was not King Khan’s first choice, he wanted to become the owner of some other city.
Talking to Raj Shamani on his podcast, Lalit Modi revealed that when the season started, anyone could apply for any city. Although today Kolkata Knight Riders have gained popularity and love all over the world, when Shah Rukh decided to own the team, he tried to acquire cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad before finally settling on Kolkata.
Mr Modi said Shah Rukh Khan is very interested in bidding for teams in Ahmedabad or Mumbai. However, his bid was lower and hence he settled on Kolkata Knight Riders. SRK’s first choice was Mumbai, but Mukesh Ambani’s offer outweighed him. After that he wanted Banglore but then Vijay Mallya got it and the same happened with Delhi.
Lalit Modi also shared the numbers of the first season. He said that Shah Rukh’s bet was around 70-80 million for the cities he wanted, but bets of around 100 million won the game. When he got KKR, the team had 85-87 million.
Moreover, Lalit Modi said that SRK is very important for IPL as his charm attracts more people, especially women. “For me, Shah Rukh was going to bring women and children into the game. Women and children have been extremely important to the IPL in terms of viewership,” he said.