They did it for Kolkata

After a dismal start to the season, KKR team management coined a special message from the City of Joy to inspire the players

Kolkata Knight Riders’ win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on Sunday night was nothing short of a miracle as KKR were staring down the barrel at one stage. With two wins in seven games, the writing was on the wall for them. but Shah Rukh Khan’s boys turned things around with nine wins in a row – an IPL record. It was a comeback few had forecasted. But then, that is IPL for you.
Behind their fairy tale success was meticulous planning. If Gautam Gambhir & Co never said never on the field, the Knight Riders management did its bit to keep the morale of the players high. There were occasional motivational lectures from Mike Horn and complimenting the Swiss explorer’s speeches was an out-of-the-box initiative by the franchise management.
On the eve of the 2012 final in Chennai, the KKR managers had shot an emotional video that had messages for each player from their family members. There were messages from girlfriends in South Africa to wives in New Zealand and parents in India and Manvinder Bisla, who was the star of KKR’s first IPL win in 2012, had no qualms in acknowledging that the message from his parents in Himachal Pradesh had inspired him to rise to the occasion.
This time around, the management invented a theme that was about Kolkata. They called it “do it for Kolkata” and the players were shown messages from the Kolkatans cutting across various sections of the society. So there was a message from an old lady at a tea stall urging the players to do it for the city and she called the boys her sons. Prominent voices of the city sent across their messages to the team while there were also visuals capturing of the city’s craze for cricket.
The management also engaged the services of London-based media company Engage Media and their lenseman travelled with the team through-out the IPL. He captured visuals of the mad rush for tickets of the KKR matches at the Eden. The shots depicted how the fans in Kolkata braved scorching mid-summer day’s for a ticket. There were also shots that depicted how The City of Joy came to a standstill everytime KKR played.
It was a crisp five-minute video which was shown during the team meeting on the eve of the final against Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore. “The video also had pictures of how we went on to lose from winning positions and how we dominated the teams in the second half of the league. The subject was Kolkata. We wanted to motivate the players to do it for the city which backed the team through thick and thin, ” said Mysore. “We’re happy the initiative worked.”
Post the win on Sunday night in Bangalore, there was a party in the team hotel. Owners Shah Rukh, Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta joined in the celebrations which went on till the wee hours.
On Monday evening, the players took off to Kolkata, where a grand felicitation awaits the victors. The West Bengal government and Cricket Association of Bengal are jointly organising the function at Eden and unlike last time, all the foreign players, barring Sunil Narine and Morne Morkel, will be present.



Picking the right bowlerswas the key, says Gambhir

Bangalore Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir yesterday said the ‘master move’ of picking quality bowlers, instead of buying big batting names during February auction helped the team to pocket its second Indian Premier League title.
“When we went into the auction, we wanted a good bowling attack. A lot of teams might have thought of having a very good batting line-up in the T20 format. A strong bowling attack takes a lot of pressure off batting. But we have batted brilliantly as well,” said Gambhir in the post-match presser.
Asked to chose between the title wins of 2012 and this season, Gambhir said this was a very special one because after the first seven games people had written them off. But nine win on the trot mirrored the strong character of the team and the players.
“It is difficult to compare the two wins, but I feel especially after the first seven games a lot of people may not have given us a chance of playing the finals,” he said.
Gambhir further said, “Nine [wins] in a row says a lot about the character of the team and the individuals. Halfway through the tournament, we were sixth or seventh. So this is something very special, which will stay close to my heart.”
On Manish Pandey, who single-handedly won the finals with his 94 against Kings XI Punjab, Gambhir said a players worth is realised when he performs in crunch situations and that is the reason why we backed him. PTI