Abhinav Bindra

Chandigarh: Abhinav Bindra, who had no choice but to support the Kings XI Punjab, on Saturday, has saluted the Kolkata Knight Riders’ 39-run win.

“I was obliged to root for the Kings XI, but the Knights played exceedingly well... Sourav (Ganguly) and (MoM Manoj) Tiwary were excellent,” India’s only individual gold medallist in the Olympics, told The Telegraph.

Abhinav was ‘compelled’ to cheer the Kings XI as he’d been invited to Mohali by friends who have an association with the franchise.

Asked if he had advice for Kumar Sangakkara and his men, who’re at the bottom of the table in IPL III, Abhinav replied: “Look, they definitely need to regroup and work at improving the execution of plans... That, in my opinion, has to be the starting point.”

Abhinav sat in the Gulf Oil box and, in keeping with his style, went almost unnoticed. “I like it that way... Don’t like drawing attention to myself,” he pointed out.

The Mumbai Indians, by the way, happen to be Abhinav’s favourite team. All because of one Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.