“We will be back,” asserts actress Juhi Chawla, about her association with the Kolkata Knight Riders. Picture by Pabitra Das

The Knights may have lost their way in the inaugural IPL, but King Khan and his company are not thinking of dropping their shining armour yet.

“We will be back, we are not going anywhere,” asserted Juhi Chawla before the Kolkata Knight Riders took on the Rajasthan Royals at home. The assurance couldn’t have come at a better time with the team virtually blowing its chances of a semi-final spot and Shah Rukh Khan’s absence from Eden Gardens on Tuesday evening triggering dark rumours.“Yes, the going hasn’t been easy — we started well, then lost a few matches, came back strongly and then again lost more matches. But we are hoping that something will happen and we will make it to the semi-finals,” said the actress before the start of the Rajasthan match.

Juhi, who has “a small investment in the Kolkata Knight Riders” along with husband Jay Mehta and Shah Rukh Khan of Red Chillies Entertainment, has been instrumental in garnering support for the team from the local film industry.

“I must say they have been lovely,” smiled Juhi. “When the going was not so good, I lost heart. I didn’t know whether to invite them… whether they would still be eager to come to the ground. But they were like: ‘Don’t worry, it’s our team!’ Rituparna (Sengupta), Indrani (Halder), Jeet, Jisshu (Sengupta)… they have been there practically every match. Ushaji (Uthup) also was so sweet... she was there for the first two matches.”

Her association with KKR has transformed Juhi, who had nothing to do with the game earlier, into a cricket fanatic. She said in one breath: “The stress and anxiety and then the excitement and happiness when the team does well…. At the end of the day you think why am I getting so worked up over this? Two months ago, I did not even know about this world and suddenly I am so involved…”

The scores may be low but the spirits are high in the KKR ranks. On Monday, Knight Riders’ coach John Buchanan, too, had said that the first IPL season was “just the start of a long journey” for the team.

“There is a lot of talent in the team and we are trying to understand how best to use it to our advantage. Things will certainly get better for the Knight Riders as time goes on,” the World Cup-winning Australian coach told Metro.