Shah Rukh, Sourav launch Kolkata team

The country was promised exciting cricketing action from team Kolkata led by Sourav Ganguly, ex-Indian skipper, and its co-owners, film industry veterans Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh Khan.

The team today started its countdown for the Indian Premier League(IPL) cricket tournament set to begin in mid-April.

Picking the team for the 'Kolkata Knight Riders' was over, said Khan, whose company Red Chillies Entertainment had won the franchisee for the Kolkata team.

"Sourav and Buchanan (referring to former Australian cricket team coach John Buchanan) will now prepare the team for the tournament", said Khan.

Advertisement campaigns for the Kolkata Knight Riders were ready, and the mascot for the team, a spiky haired Bengal tiger named Hoog Lee, was unveiled at today's event.

Sony Entertainment Television (SET) Max and World Sport Group have been awarded the broadcast rights for the IPL matches for the next ten years for just over a billion dollars or nearly Rs 4000 crore by the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI).

Around 80 per cent of the annual amount from the rights would go to the eight teams in the first year, said Kunal Dasgupta, chief executive officer, SET. Also, 60 per cent of the revenues earned by the title sponsor DLF would be distributed among the teams, he added.

The Kolkata franchisee was looking at raising funds through ticket sales and merchandising apart from the sponsors that were already roped in for apparels and footwear.

Reebok was the apparels and footwear sponsor. Other big brands associated with the IPL Kolkata team were Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), Tag Heuer watches, Belmonte, and The Telegraph.

While the IPL Kolkata team could be used by the franchisee for doing advertisements for these brands, if players signed individual contracts with any brand, the proceeds would go to them solely.

Khan wanted to build Knight Riders into a platform, and if it made profits, the money could go into other sports like soccer and hockey. The Kolkata Knight Riders would be draped in black and gold livery, where black signified Kolkata's presiding deity goddess Kali, and gold victory, explained Khan.

The theme song was composed by Vishal-Shekhar from Mumbai and sung by Vishal.

The idea was to eventually bring out a Knight Riders album with inputs from local talents like Usha Utthup, Bappi Lahiri and Preetam, Khan added.

Ganguly as captain and Buchanan as coach would have a team including Shoaib Akhtar, Ricky Ponting, Chris Gayle, David Hussey, Brendon McCullum, Umar Gul and Tatenda Taibu from overseas and Ajit Agarkar, Ishant Sharma, Murali Kartik, Akash Chopra, Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, R Saha, Sourashish Lahiri, and Rohan Bannerjee from India.