Kolkata Knight Riders rubbish reports of playing T20 series against Peshawar Zalmi

What’s the story?

Two-time Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders rubbished all the reports of their co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s offers to hold a three-match series against 2017 Pakistan Super League champions Peshawar Zalmi.

“KKR won’t be playing any unauthorised games/leagues as some false reports are claiming. No such communication happened from our end,” the franchise clarified on Twitter.

KKR won't be playing any unauthorized games/leagues as some false reports are claiming.No such communication happened from our end.

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 9, 2017

In case you didn’t know...

Earlier this week, Peshawar Zalmi beat Quetta Gladiators by 58 runs in the finals of the 2017 PSL at the Gadaffi stadium in Lahore. After the win, Zalmi CEO Javed Afridi claimed that Shah Rukh Khan called him to offer his congratulations and proposed a three-match T20 series between both the teams at a neutral venue.

Extra cover: Imran Khan takes dig at overseas players who played the PSL final

The heart of the matter

Afridi confirmed Shah Rukh’s proposal and revealed that both the team owners will talk to their respective governments regarding the series. “Shah Rukh has asked me to talk to the Pakistani government and he will talk to the Indian government himself,” he said.

However, hours after his statement, Afridi backtracked and tweeted saying, “there is no truth” in the reports and they are mere “speculations”.

We always welcome cricket for peace ,but there is no truth about @KKRiders & @PeshawarZalmi matches just speculations.Verily respect for

— Javed Afridi (@JAfridi10) March 9, 2017

Meanwhile, KKR CEO Venky Mysore claimed that the Bollywood superstar was not even aware of any tournament that was taking place in Pakistan or Dubai. “I just had a word with Shah Rukh and he told me that he has been so busy shooting these days that he didn’t even know that any such league was happening in Pakistan or Dubai, let alone calling any franchise owner and congratulating him on winning the tournament,” Mysore said.

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Sportskeeda’s Take

Even though the proposal for a three-match series between an IPL team (KKR) and a PSL team (Zalmi) was denied by the CEOs of both the teams, the series would have been a perfect platform to resume cricket ties between both the countries.