May 22, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

MUMBAI, May 21: The differences between Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner Shah Rukh Khan and its skipper Saurav Ganguly have come out in the open after the team’s poor performance against the Rajasthan Royals cost them their chance to feature in the top four teams.

Ganguly, speaking to reporters after the loss on Monday, said, “I have seen the reports and I will clarify my stance later.” Refusing to comment on the issue and not denying any such reports could hint at a possible rift between the two.

Although team owner Shah Rukh Khan has not reacted to reports over a possible rift between the two, it is being widely felt that the two power centres in the Kolkata team are not seeing eye to eye on many issues.

The problem apparently started with the entertainment tax that Shah Rukh Khan is paying for the matches being played at the Eden Gardens. The Bollywood star wanted Ganguly to speak to West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and try and get it abolished. The Kolkata captain, who is known to be close to the CM, has refused to oblige, at least till now.

Interestingly, it is learnt that Eden Gardens is the only stadium where an IPL team is paying entertainment tax. That is not all though. The bigger bone of contention is Knight Riders’ sudden dip in form and its poor performance in the last few games, harming their semifinal chances. Shah Rukh, sources say, is not too happy with this change of fortunes although he hasn’t expressed his feelings openly.

Ganguly, on the other hand, has not been too pleased with the team composition right from the beginning. The differences surfaced during the auction itself, with Sourav wanting more batsmen while the team management was more keen on bowlers.

The problems magnified when coach John Buchanan was given more powers than the captain himself. To add fuel to the fire, Shah Rukh announced that the coach will take all the decisions for the team next year onwards, upsetting Ganguly in the bargain. Ganguly has apparently already begun showing his discontent.

He preferred to go back home after the last match rather than stay back for a press conference to annouce Knight Riders’ tie-up with a website. Shah Rukh, it is said, did pass some caustic remarks over the incident, saying: “I thank all my teammates for being at the press conference but who can forget Dada (Ganguly) who is missing from the event.”

The duo also had a spat when Khan was keen that his team fielded first in the last game against Chennai. Ganguly, however, preferred to bat first. Eventually, the Knight Riders lost by 3 runs on Duckworth-Lewis following a rain interruption.—Agencies