Sunil Gavaskar

Mumbai: Bollywood superstar and principal owner of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Shah Rukh Khan, who had hit out at Sunil Gavaskar for the former India captain’s criticism of the multiple captains theory, has now apologised to the legendary batsman.

“I have not said anything against Gavaskar. I just wanted to have breathing space to try something new. I have sent him an apology letter because he was in America that time,” Shah Rukh said before his departure for South Africa on Monday night.

He said: “Due to the wonderful methodology that television applies, that comment was for people who don’t understand cricket and who are still telling me how to run the team.

“If Gavaskar asks me to walk on my head and run the team, I would. Anything that Gavaskar says that has to do with cricket, if he mentions, should be followed,” the actor said.

Shah Rukh said the controversy had hurt him.

Shah Rukh Khan

“People are making comments without understanding what the concept of multiple captaincy is,” he said.

The Knight Riders team owner’s apology comes a couple of days after cricket manager John Buchanan had reacted to Gavaskar’s criticism.

Suggesting Buchanan’s multiple-skipper theory did not deserve comment, the former India captain had written in his syndicated column “…he has wangled for his Queensland pals and former teammates lucrative jobs with the franchise… The owners, poor souls, probably have little idea of how they are being milked”.

Buchanan refused to comment when the controversy broke, but changed his mind a few days later. “There were always people who were more than willing to put the knife in, and the fact that I never played Test cricket was simmering in the background of these digs, particularly by a select few,” Buchanan was quoted as saying by a South African newspaper. “I never shook the feeling that the axe was always hovering,” he added. (AGENCIES)