Shayan Munshi, the city boy who is making a mark as a thinking man’s actor, returned to the Eden Gardens on Thursday, not as an aspiring cricketer but as the number one fan of KKR. In between cheering lustily for Sourav Ganguly and his (for once) merry men, from the star-studded 32K gallery, Shayan gave a running commentary to Metro over his cellphone. Till he lost his voice and got busy clapping his team to victory.

I am thrilled to be at the Eden Gardens, my home ground. I’m here with Tony (film-maker Aniruddha Roy Choudhury), Dona Ganguly, Sana….

We, the Ekti Tarar Khonje team (the film being directed by Avik Mukhopadhyay and produced by Tony in which Shayan plays a character who has frequent premonitions), were in Mumbai and were talking about how we could stay connected now that the making of the film was over.

That’s when we decided to come to Calcutta and watch this KKR match together.

Coming to the Eden brings back a lot of memories for me. I had played here for the Under-19 CAB inter-school finals. I represented my school, Don Bosco Park Circus, in the IX and X standards, as a batsman.

I love the new merchandise of KKR, the flags, the banners, the backrests that we have been given. They will help us build up the mood and have a blast.

The crowd is going ballistic, as much because of the cricket as the star-studded turnout today. There’s Sushmita Sen, Raveena Tandon, Arjun Rampal and his wife Mehr, Sussanne K. Roshan and, of course, Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri with their kids...

But for me the stars are on the field. I’m cheering the loudest for KKR, as I’m a bigger fan of my home team than of the film stars.

I also love the Mumbai Indians as Mumbai gave me my second home.

Even before we came to the grounds, I had told Tony that today KKR would do something special. And it started right from the toss, which we won.

I also had a gut feeling Sourav Ganguly would make magic tonight. I knew no one would stand taller than Sourav today. He just electrified Eden with his sixers.

I was getting this strange premonition. I yelled “out of the park” right before Sourav’s strike and boom, the ball soared out of the stadium. It happened thrice, and people around us were cheering me on and reaching out for a high-five!

It seems the premonition theme of Ekti Tarar Khonje has rubbed off pretty well.

The entire Eden experience has been amazing… totally new. The IPL people have done things in style, right from looking after people, to the plush AC enclosure to the sumptuous spread (pasta, Hyderabadi mutton, parathas, fish… you name it!).

My moment of the match so far? I was sitting with Dona and Sana, craning my neck as Sourav hit ball after ball high up into the night sky. I stole a glance at Sana… as the ball soared, she quietly closed her eyes and joined her hands in a little prayer…

I felt so moved to see the little girl in her private moment with God, for her dad. It was the cutest, most touching thing I have ever seen.

I fear I am losing my voice as I am cheering every ball like crazy…but I won’t stop, I am swept by the sheer magic on the field.

Go KKR, go!