According to the old English proverb: All things come to those who wait.
The Kolkata Knight Riders have been waiting a while. Rather too long in fact for their Bollywood superstar owner Shahrukh Khan. If patience is a virtue, King Khan is about to reap his reward.
Back in 2008 he spent a sizeable chunk of his fortune to purchase a franchise in the newly created Indian Premier League. He quickly acquired some of cricket’s finest to stock the roster. Local hero and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was the natural choice to lead the team.
If KKR were hoping for an eye-catching debut they couldn’t have scripted it better. In their very first IPL game the Riders annihilated Bangalore by 140 runs. Brendon McCullum smashed 158 from just 73 balls, a world-record Twenty20 innings which stands to this day.
Two days later Kolkata won its home opener. Eden Gardens was a scene of celebration. But the party fizzled out all too quickly. Four straight losses followed as rumours began to surface of tension between Ganguly and Khan. Official denials were swift but the season petered out in disappointment.
The controversy reached new heights the following year. On the eve of the 2009 IPL season, Ganguly was removed as captain and replaced by McCullum. The campaign was a disaster, yielding just three wins and an ignominious last-place finish.
Ganguly was reinstated for the 2010 season. It seemed all was forgiven as KKR won its opening two games. Three heavy defeats followed and the rot set in once again. Ganguly sparkled spasmodically but inconsistency left Kolkata on the outside looking in.
The facts spoke for themselves. After three years of IPL’s hits and misses, only one franchise had never qualified for the Championship playoffs. The Kolkata Knight Riders were ready to change gear.
The dawn of IPL4 saw The Prince of Kolkata exiled. Protests followed the departure of Ganguly who was shown the door along with fellow internationals McCullum, Chris Gayle and Shane Bond. Khan hired a new chief executive and instructed him to come up with a winning formula.
The January auction was used to rebuild the team. The Riders splashed out half their $9-million budget on new captain Gautam Gambhir and all-rounder Yusuf Pathan. Another million-plus went on South African star Jacques Kallis and a further $400,000 on Australian paceman Brett Lee.
Finally the outlay is beginning to yield dividends. With three games remaining Kolkata has already notched seven wins — as many as it achieved in any of the previous campaigns. No team with eight wins has ever failed to make the playoffs so one more victory should seal it.
Gambhir and Kallis have settled in well. Both are averaging close to 40 while IPL rookie Iqbal Abdulla is among the leading wicket takers. Pathan has turned out to be one of the year’s most economical bowlers and saving runs is never a bad thing in this form of cricket.
Winning is habit forming. So, too, is losing. The new-look Knight Riders have found consistency — only once suffering back-to-back defeats in 2011. Credit must go to Dav Whatmore, who has coached successfully all over the world.
The Riders are finally motoring in the right direction. By the time the Mumbai Indians come calling for the final game of the regular season, Kolkata fans will have already snapped up their playoff tickets. It could just be a dress rehearsal for the Grand Final itself.