Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo: A 5-year roller coaster ride

The grand reality show has now entered into its final stages. This has been a fascinating year with a quite a few  teams experiencing  roller coaster rides this season. But there has been one team which has truly witnessed an amazing number of ups & downs in all the 5 years of the IPL: the Kolkata Knight Riders, owned by arguably one of the finest actors in Bollywood. Let us trace its journey from the start till the present date.

Grand start

KKR happened to be the first team to win a match in IPL, and boy they did it in style, didn’t they ? McCullum’s individual score  of 158  in that match still remains to be beaten in 5 long years. SRK was seen dancing all around in that match, with his joy seemingly having no bounds… Now some people say, all’s well that begins well. Was it so for this team ? Not quite.

Murphy’s Law prevailed

SRK must be hating Murphy for the first 3 seasons. ‘Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong’, says Murphy’s law, and this was indeed the case for this team. After a grand start in first match, things started slipping fast and furious. The team composition didn’t click, the captain (Sourav Ganguly) was not playing up to the mark and SRK was not amused by any of it. The relations between the the captain and the owner could not be exactly described as cordial. The team ended season 1 in the second half of the points table.

Well, if this was not bad enough, season 2 opened up a Pandora’s box of troubles for this team. A few fine bowlers from our neighboring country could not contribute to the team, the captaincy was handed over to McCullum, the performances of the team were so bad that the new captain was almost reduced to tears once after a battery of losses. Wait..I almost forgot about the fake IPL player. In hindsight, the entire episode of the fake IPL player’s blog bemuses us more than anything else. The fact that the actual ‘guilty’ one could never be caught is quite a surprise. Season 3 was better than the earlier ones, yet the team remained in the news for reasons apart from cricket. KKR remained the only team to not make it to the next level in the first 3 years.

The turnaround

The purchases made by the team last year were smart. They roped in smart captain Gautam Gambhir, big hitter Pathan, ever-reliable Kallis among a few others. Yes, leaving Gayle behind now definitely looks a bad move. The composition was right this time, and it reflected on the results, with the team making it to the playoffs and ultimately to the Champions League. The jokes doing the round for the first 3 years naturally died down with a commendable performance from the team. The only dark spot was the unceremonious dropping of the Prince of Kolkata from the team. The Kolkata fans have not forgiven SRK for that and perhaps never will, as evident from their loyalties towards PWI in the recent match held at Eden Gardens a few days back.

Aisa mauka phir kahan milega

My bet for the IPL title this time is on this team. With the team securing the second spot, it has 2 golden chances to make it to the finals and possibly go all the way. It has already beaten the table toppers and has all the resources to do it another time. While traditional names like McCullum, Pathan and Kallis have been disappointing, an unknown off-spinner has stolen the show this time. Batsmen perhaps fear facing Naraine more than quickies like Steyn & Lee. An economy rate of around 5 for an off spinner in T20s is remarkable. Hope to see him do well in the upcoming matches that matter more than any other league match.

Dissecting SRK

‘Har team mein ek hi gunda hota hain aur is team ka gunda hoon’. People perhaps treat this team as SRK’s team rather than Kolkata team. Naturally his countless fans have become fans of KKR and his countless haters have become haters of KKR! He has been (in)famous for all sorts of heroics during the 5 years. The latest in the series was his exchange of ‘pleasantries’ with MCA ground staff. Yes, he has been a entertainer, be it on the silver screen or on the green field. But then he has been a true team owner as well. During the first 3 years, when his team was not doing well, he did accept all jokes with dignity. During one show, Dravid joke that the word ‘Jeetbo’ should be removed from team song. SRK, whenever asked about the team performances, always said that he believed the team would turn the tables around sooner or later. And now, the team has managed to do exactly that. Having a star performer as the team owner may or may not reduce the pressure on the ones actually playing on the field, but the fact remains that his presence has made the team one of the most talked about in the IPL journey. The fact that KKR is among a few profit-making enterprises in IPL shows his business acumen too. The man has added a different dimension to the IPL and contributed to its 5-year success.

Perhaps no team other than KKR has experienced such a wide range of happenings in the last 5 years. It is now at the top of the roller coaster ride and hopes to make it even higher. Hopefully the team (and  possibly its owners) continue to entertain us with their performances in the IPL seasons to come and continue to remain Too Hot & Too cool in this grand reality show called IPL.