Shahrukh Khan adds to Eden jubilation

KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders' passage to the final of IPL 7 was as good as sealed once David Miller was castled by Piyush Chawla in the 13th over.
Kings XI Punjab prolonged their agony by batting out the full quota of 20 overs before ultimately losing by 28 runs. But not a soul moved from his seat at the packed Eden Gardens. Not even after Gautam Gambhir and his bunch of invincibles had done a victory lap to thank the 65,000-odd fans.
They all waited for the Badshah to make an appearance. And it wasn't long before Shahrukh Khan obliged. The co-owner of KKR hugged all the players and then set about going around the stadium, blowing kisses and waving energetically to send the cheering thousands into a frenzy.
A sea of silver dots engulfed the stands as the mobile phones worked over time to capture King Khan 'live.' Busy shooting for his next film, SRK hadn't managed to attend any of KKR's matches this season.
This was the last chance at home and he didn't want to miss out, especially after his team had turned their fortunes around by winning an unprecedented eight games on the trot.
Khan was as ecstatic as the players and supporters, and did a somersault at the end of his 'walk' in front of the club house.
His entry to the stadium had coincided with a double blow to the KKR innings, with left-arm spinner Akshar Patel sending back Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey in the space of four balls in the ninth over.
As the giant screen caught Shahrukh sitting in the sponsors' box, murmurs of 'why did he have to come today' went around the club house.
By the end of the innings, though, hope and optimism had driven away the despair.