Kolkata Knight Riders celebrate the fall of a wicket during the IPL match against Bangalore Royal Challengers on Friday

Calcutta: The build-up to Friday’s Indian Premier League (IPL) opener had seen Shah Rukh Khan, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner, dream big. First, that Shoaib Akhtar would take three wickets in his very first over and, then, that his team would win eight matches on the trot.

Dream No.1 died very quickly and Shoaib is, at the moment, quite far removed from the IPL. As for the second, a dream-like performance at the Chinnaswamy in Bangalore has encouraged visions of that actually being realised.

The mind-blowing 140-run win over the Bangalore Royal Challengers was reason enough to party and even though Shah Rukh isn’t a party man, he did hit the dance floor around 2.00am (Saturday) at the stunning UB City.

Joining him, believe it or not, was Knight Riders’ coach John Buchanan, who was requested to step out of the shadows by the impact-making Ashok Dinda.

Buchanan’s, however, was more of a guest appearance. Not entirely unexpected that.

The party, ironically, was hosted by Challengers’ owner Vijay Mallya. Perhaps because of the rout, he didn’t spend too much time with the guests and wasn’t quite his flamboyant self.

It was a bad night for the king of good times.

Mallya, though, vowed that his team (led by Rahul Dravid, who took some bizarre decisions) would turn the tables in the return match at the Eden, on May 8.

Shah Rukh, of course, thanked Mallya for a wonderful opening ceremony and for providing the “perfect atmosphere” to perform.

“I don’t need to feel rejuvenated... I’m always that way... But, yes, the spirit and the bonding shown by the boys were absolutely brilliant... Winning is important, but as important is how you win,” a relaxed Shah Rukh told The Telegraph during one of his many cigarette breaks.

Indeed, everything about Shah Rukh suggested that he’d been part of the winning XI instead of having been the principal cheerleader.

Among others, buddies Jay and Juhi Chawla (also business associates), Karan Johar, Arjun Rampal and Zayed Khan had kept him company.

Incidentally, asked what made him throw the new ball to the largely unheralded Dinda, captain Sourav Ganguly replied: “Because I don’t believe in making such (talented) bowlers start a big match by fielding at third-man… He responded beautifully (3-0-9-2)…”

Dinda sure did.