IPL 2025: Bollywood’s superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will play a vital IPL 2025 match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the legendary Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday, March 31. Although Shah Rukh has been a resident of Mumbai for more than 30 years, he bought the Kolkata franchise before the first season of IPL in 2008. On the other hand, the Mumbai franchise was bought by Mukesh Ambani and his family.
Being two of India’s largest metro cities, Kolkata and Mumbai are bound to have a strong rivalry. The very first victory of MI over KKR was in the 2008 season at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, following four consecutive defeats for MI to KKR. But it was the return match in Mumbai that MI started dominating the rivalry by winning by a nine-wicket margin.
Also Read: IPL 2025: Is CSK’s Fielding Holding Them Back? Ambati Rayudu Voice Concerns After RR Defeat
In a documentary released in 2014 and titled Living with KKR, Shah Rukh gave a frank interview about the time he had difficulty with hostile spectators in certain cities. “I never wanted to be involved with IPL for success personally,” he stated in the documentary. “In fact, I think that it might actually have damaged my career. I’d never experienced being booed inside a stadium before.”. I can go into a crowd of a lakh people, put a guitar around my neck, and the people will applaud me. But I also go to stadiums here where I’m jeered, and I ask myself, is this the same nation where I’m a big film star?
“The former KKR team director Joy Bhattacharya said SRK was more upset by the boos from the Mumbai crowd than by KKR’s defeat. He was not heartbroken that we lost, but at the manner in which the city he had taken up and belonged to for 20 years responded to him,” Bhattacharya clarified. “He said, ‘In Mumbai, I’m referred to as king. I’ve never asked you guys for anything. Just win this game for me.’ He further added, ‘I like to think that in my profession, I’ve never let down a crowd.”.
For the first time in my life, it was like, ‘Are we letting down people?’ The game that initiated this emotional highlight was played in 2008, when KKR was dismissed for a paltry 67, the lowest first innings score in IPL history. Led by captain Sachin Tendulkar, MI chased down this target in only 5.3 overs, setting the record for the fastest completed run chase in IPL history. This record has not been broken for the last 17 years.
