Shah Rukh Khan cheers the Knight Riders on at the Eden on Thursday. Picture by Pabitra Das

Calcutta: Always a gracious winner, the Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan, headed towards the Bangalore Royal Challengers’ dressing room at the Eden.

That was around 1.25am on Friday.

Shah Rukh knocked to offer much needed commiserations, but only found a couple of rather startled attendants feasting on the leftovers.

“Let’s chat here,” Shah Rukh told The Telegraph and, about an hour after his team had won the battle on the field, he took control of the Royal Challengers’ dressing room.

A complete victory, really.

For the next 20-odd minutes, Shah Rukh (accompanied by son Aryan, who could turn out to be an amazing footballer) spoke about the Knight Riders having put a stop to their losing run in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

It was past 1.45am when Shah Rukh finished and, on the way out, picked up a banana. Of course, he didn’t forget to ask “guys, anybody else interested?”

The following are excerpts from the one-on-one:

His top emotion after the five-run win over the (Vijay Mallya-owned) Royal Challengers

More than feeling relieved, I’m feeling bad that the boys suffered four defeats on the trot.... We could’ve had four wins instead of three in the first seven matches. I’m feeling bad because we’ve had our run of ill luck.… Chris Gayle got injured and couldn’t play a single match…. Then, we should’ve had Shoaib Akhtar from the start. These things haven’t helped. We’re clear about not playing somebody for gains in the short term and getting him injured in the process. It’s sad that what was planned by John (Buchanan, coach), Jeet (Banerjee, associate) and Joy (Bhattacharjya, team director), by way of fielding players, didn’t work out. It’s the run of bad luck which cost us one of the matches…. Probably the one against the Mumbai Indians or the one versus Kings XI Punjab.

Whether the four defeats left him depressed

Not depressed, I’m never depressed. But, yes, I did feel bad for the boys.… I treat them as my kids and my response had been the way I’d respond if my kids (Aryan, Suhana) didn’t win a race or something.

Having been rather restrained during the match, except towards the end

(Grins) I was indeed very tired, yaar.… I’d been shooting for my TV show till 6.30 in the morning (Thursday)…. I then took one of the earlier flights because I wanted to spend some time with the team. At this point, believe me, I’m absolutely exhausted.

The thrust of his interaction with the Sourav Gangulys

It wasn’t a pep talk…. Don’t think I can give that.… I don’t have a role in the planning, that’s taken care of by John and (assistant coach) Matthew Mott.… The Knight Riders’ support staff is just fantastic.… If I said anything to the players in the early days, it would’ve seemed as if the owner in me was speaking…. Today, that stage has passed and when I say anything now, it’s as if I’m talking like a team member…. One needs time to come together.… Initially, they must’ve been suspicious of me…. Wary of me…. I’ve won their trust by actually being a part of the team.… I wish I could practise with them as well…. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that next year.… I want the wins as much as the players themselves and, like them, don’t want the losses…. An owner of a team would like a win for different reasons, but my reasons are the same as theirs…. I’m happy that I’ve been able to win the team’s confidence.… My wife (Gauri) has been able to win that confidence too…. (Co-owners) Juhi and Jay (Mehta) have been able to win that confidence as well….

The message he gave his team

That we should play like our first match and play it like our last match.… To show the world and ourselves that we could take a hit and still get up and hit back…. My father used to say the opposition wants to win as much as you do, so don’t think you’re the only one fighting…. The opponents, too, fight.… I believe the one who can take the harder hit is the one who is stronger…. We’ve taken the hardest hit and it’s time to come back stronger.

His one-on-one with Shoaib

I told him to do something to the opposition.… He said he’ll do just that! Shoaib also promised me that even if he plays two matches in this year’s IPL, everybody would remember those matches…. He needs to acclimatise and needs to be fully fit.

Whether he’d been confident about the team defending 129

The experts said it was a good score, but the experts have been saying a lot of things a lot of times…. I don’t think this (Twenty20) game has anything to do with the experts, this game is run by passion.… Defending or not defending that score was a different matter, but I liked the body language when the boys started the second session.… I’d seen them the same way in Bangalore (during the April 18 IPL opener)…. Unfortunately, the Royal Challengers had to face the worst times both times! I say unfortunate because I love Rahul (Dravid) and Anil (Kumble) and the others.… I’ve known them for years, done Pepsi shoots together…. I’m good friends with them and they’ve come home…. (After a pause) Even if we hadn’t won, the body language suggested the coming together of heart and soul…. The mind had been together, we needed the heart and soul to be together (after four defeats on the trot).…

MoM Sourav’s spell (3-0-7-1)

It was awesome.… Players like him need to be given breathing space…. If he doesn’t do well in one match then the question is ‘what are you doing about Ganguly?’.… You can’t write off players like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav and some others whose names I’ve missed out…. Also, we shouldn’t be praising one performance of theirs…. After all, they’re expected to perform… They’re meant to win matches… It’s not about winning or losing as much as it is about the desire to play together and trying to get results…. It may not happen this year, but next year…. However, I’d like this team to be remembered for its ideology. That’s important.

At the half-way stage in the IPL, the marks he’d give the Knight Riders on a scale of 10

We’ll win this championship.… I wake up in the morning thinking I’m the best, when I know I’m not.… I’m not the best, but I still believe that I am…. If I don’t believe that, then I don’t even become good enough.… I think the team wakes up with the thought that it can win the championship…. Inshallah, it will.… If we don’t, we may not have been good enough on a particular day…. May not have had the right breaks.… But we’ve got to wake up with that belief…. Right now, I do believe the Knight Riders will win the championship.

Regularly sending text messages to his players

(Laughs) I think I’ve got SMS diarrhoea…. Some probably don’t understand the messages, but how else do I explain things to 18 and 19-year-olds…. I’ve lived life a little more than them.… I’ve lost in life, but have gained a lot too.… My experience will probably sound a bit alien to an 18-year-old…. So, I send Rudyard Kipling’s verses…. I send them Abraham Lincoln’s prayer for one of his son’s.… I send them some of the things my father used to tell me.… I want to pass on to my kids what my father would tell me.…

Having had to scrap the stage performance he’d planned for Thursday

Look, I’m through with trying to put up a show (on a match day).… I’ll come down to the Eden Gardens one day, after getting everybody’s permission, and put up a show…. It won’t happen in this IPL because there are restrictions on time for the kind of show I want to put up.… Only between 6.55 and 7.05 pm or only during the break.…

Whether the King of Good Times, Mallya, had congratulated him

We’re friends outside the IPL…. He was a very good host when we played in Bangalore and I’ll be speaking to him.

Finally, if the Trinamul demonstrators actually had a word with him when they blocked his Eden-headed convoy

No…. People can make claims, and they keep doing so, but nobody spoke to me.