Kolkata Knight Riders are the most successful team along with the Mumbai Indian and the now defunct Chennai Super Kings franchise, with 2 titles each. The tales of the team that played the inaugural game of the IPL in 2008 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore and blew them away is a great tale in itself. That blistering knock by Brendon McCullum, a 158 of just 73 balls is one written in the stars.
The Kolkata Knight Riders is owned by Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta, who is Chawla's husband. The team is owned by the Knight Riders Sports Pvt. Ltd which was set up by Shah Rukh, Juhi and Jay Mehta. Shah Rukh’s production house Red Chilies Entertainment also has a certain amount of stake which belongs to SRK, on the team.
Also read: IPL Team Owners list: All you need to know about them
The franchise which took the IPL by storm in the first match were underachievers for the first four seasons, unable to muster up a top four finish. That changed in 2012 when they won the trophy and then did it again in 2014. KKR have also won the once popular Champions League which is now obsolete.
KKR is based in the City of Joy – Kolkata and boasts of their home ground being the iconic Mecca of India cricket, Eden Gardens. Owned by the Cricket Association of Bengal, it is the largest cricket stadium in India and had a seating capacity of over 90,000.
In 2011, the stadium was renovated to meet the standards set by the ICC for the 2011 Cricket World Cup; reducing its capacity to around 68,000.
Here’s a look at the Owner breakdown and how much of KKR they own:
Shah Rukh Khan and Red Chilies Entertainment 55% share
The King of Bollywood and the face of the KKR franchise, Shah Rukh is a major shareholder of KKR. Shah Rukh was someone who was interested in sports and took his love for sport further by buying the Knight Riders franchise.
The KKR squad members swear by the atmosphere of honesty and strong human values that he has created in his own franchise. His vision is to make KKR one of the most popular and successful sports teams worldwide. In his words, "I feel that the time has come to take the KKR franchise to the next level and work towards globalizing the sport and professionalizing the franchise."
SRK owns 55% of KKR and the Knight Riders group also recently bought another team in the CPL.
Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta 45% share
Juhi Chawala, a Bollywood actress and an ex Miss India winner, is married to Jay Mehta who is a businessman. She brings her wonderful work ethic and grace to the Knight Riders team and adds a touch of class to KKR’s marketing and design practices.
Her husband Jay Mehta holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University, New York and an MBA, IMD from Lausanne, Switzerland. Jay is an avid sports fan. He is also an excellent rally driver and a motorsport enthusiast. Juhi and Jay own the rest of the 45% of KKR.
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