This is a cricket blog but for this one time I am making an exception and writing about my other love - Bollywood.

I have just come back from a trip to Prague, Vienna, and Salzburg. Nothing really tops roaming around Europe with your wife, but some things come really close, like bumping into the one and only Shahrukh Khan during the same trip!

Yes. That happened. We saw Shahrukh Khan. In Prague.

And I had a brief encounter with him.

While strolling back after seeing some stunning views of the city from Prague Castle and Petrin Tower, we decided to make our way to Charles Bridge and watch the sun set.

As we walked towards the bridge, my wife pointed out towards a large crowd gathered under the bridge.

We thought it was the usual street performer showing his or her moves.

As we approached we realized the crowd was blocking our way towards the stairs leading up to Charles Bridge.

We walked past the crowd and towards the stairs and then suddenly a security guard asked us to stop and this is what followed:

Me: Hey I just want to go up to the bridge.

Security: you can't from here, shooting is going on.

Me: Oh film shooting (as I look around and see some movie cameras). Which movie?

Security: its an Indian movie.

Me: Tell me which one, I know all Indian movies.

Security: It is called The Ring.

Me: Nooo that doesn't sound like an Indian movie. Who is in it?

Security: The most famous movie actor from India is here.

Me: Who Shahrukh Khan!?

Security: yes yes Shahrukh Khan.

Me: Are u serious?

My Wife: baby bakwas kar raha hai.

Security: yes Shahrukh Khan.

Me: Baby THERE HE IS SHAHRUKH KHAN !!

And we saw him, applying some touch up to his face and getting ready for a shot.



As SRK completed his touch up, Imtiaz Ali walked up to him and gave him some suggestions.

Then the shot rolled.

An Arijit song played.

SRK walked up the stairs of Charles Bridge, the same stairs we were supposed to go on.


Ofcourse I knew that SRK and Anushka Sharma were in Europe to shoot for Imtiaz Ali's next. That was the last Bollywood news I had read before leaving for my own Euro trip.

However, I had no idea that they were going to be in Prague and I could not believe my luck that I was in Prague at the same time and by chance walked up to the location of their shooting!

Once I got a bit over the euphoria of watching SRK shoot in person, I looked around the crowd that had gathered and was so pleasantly surprised to see European women pointing towards SRK and telling each other that that is Shahrukh Khan.

Global star is an understatement!

I wanted to shout out his name a few times and kept repeating the same to my wife who was so amused by my excitement.

I said it about the 5th time "I want to shout", when an Indian girl behind me said "come on shout, we will shout with you".

Such encouragement always makes such things easier. I said "sure on 1,2,3, we all shout Shahrukh Khan".

As I completed my 1,2,3 count, a group of about 15 people let out a huge "SHAAAAHHRUUKKHHH KHAAAAN !!!".

He looked up, smiled, and waved.

That was it. Our day, our trip was made.

Soon after Imtiaz Ali called it "a wrap" and SRK started walking away.

Sensing an opportunity to go meet him, shake his hand, take a selfie I turned around to my wife and said I am going to follow him.

After the tiring walk up and down the hills, my wife was in no mood to rush or run, but seeing my excitement she smiled and said "go go I'm walking behind araam se.

It almost sounded like "Ja Simran, jee le apni zindagi".

I first ran past and clicked a selfie, capturing SRK and myself in the same frame.



I moved closer and and exclaimed "Shahrukh.. Shahrukh" as I extended my left arm out. He stretched out his right hand and gave me a five while moving ahead denying fans asking for selfies.

I ran past him again and switched on my selfie camera to capture SRK and myself in one frame for as long as I could.

Here it is... the video that I will cherish forever. King Khan and I in the same frame for 12 seconds!



As you will see, he almost tapped me on the shoulder before being swooshed away by his security detail.

Woh kehte hain na... "Don ko pakarna mushkil hi nai namumqin hai"..

When I shared my excitement and the pics and video with my friends, this is what I got in return from mere bachpan ka dost.










































It wasn't the first time I saw SRK. I have been to a couple of his concerts in Dubai, and also saw him at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi during an IPL match between KKR and Kings XI.


But this encounter in Prague was definitely a memorable one and I just had to write about it.

I even asked around for Anushka Sharma, but no one had any idea. She was probably prowling around Prague in the hunt for Pokemons.

As you can tell, I am a huge SRK fan. I have been since I saw Baazigar. And I still am after watching Happy New Year, Chennai Express, and Dilwale.

I am such a big fan that I even managed to convince my wife to pay a tribute to him and the greatest love story ever made the last time we went traveling around Europe.


Now I can't wait to witness the beauty of Prague that Imtiaz Ali will capture coupled with the magic that he will create with SRK and Anushka Sharma.

Six years ago when the IPL was first established, it was like a dream come true. It was the world's best cricketers and the world's biggest stars coming together, it was cricket and bollywood entertainment combined into one extravagant package.

For a fan like me, it didn't get better than that. It was entertainment at its best.

For the first time this year, IPL came to my town. It came to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah, the place I grew up watching India vs Pakistan matches.

Thanks to a friend, I got my hands on two passes for the Super Saturday IPL matches: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab.

It was going to be a day where I could watch Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Jacques Kallis, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and the big show Glenn Maxwell live in action!

And then there was the prospect of Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, and Shilpa Shetty being there.

The cricket itself was quite boring. The Royal Challengers were bowled out for 70 odd and Rajasthan Royals took their sweet time to get there. Punjab were bowled out for 133 and KKR could manage only 109. I saw only half a dozen sixes being hit throughout the day, and the highest score by a batsman was 37 by Sehwag. Maxwell, Kohli, Watson, Kallis... no one got going.

Despite that, there was ample entertainment on display. One can never be bored at an IPL game, that is for sure. Here are some highlights of my first day at the IPL:

1. Vijay Mallya's box was right behind where we were seated, while Shilpa Shetty was seated a few boxes away. Between the two innings, Shilpa Shetty paid Mallya a visit, and the crowd around us went ballistic. They merrily clicked away as the security had a tough time controlling people standing at the edge of Mallya's box.

2. Once the first match ended, the Punjab and KKR teams took to the field for some drills as the presentation was ongoing. At the end of the presentation, Shane Watson walked up to greet his Australian mates who were part of the Punjab XI - Bailey, Maxwell, and Johnson. They chatted for a good 10 minutes; your guess is as good as mine regarding what they chatted about.










































Cricket Bats - Fordham Sports

3. A representative from KKR came into the crowd and distributed KKR hats and flags to everyone. 15 minutes after he left a rep from the Kings XI came there and announced that whoever gave him the KKR flag or hat would get a Punjab one in return. I made sure I had something from both the teams to keep!



4. Maxwell's practice drill was the most interesting. A member of the Punjab contingent threw some balls at him and he played them straight down. He did that to 3 deliveries and then he proceeded to practice his switch hit / reverse sweep / reverse slog, whatever you want to call it. He must have played two dozen hits, including one that caught the top edge and sailed into the crowd. The crowd started cheering and asking for him to hit them their way, which Maxwell politely obliged. Every single switch hit from then on was hit into the crowd with perfect aim towards a row of people who would catch them. It was probably the most entertaining practice drill I had ever seen. It was also no surprise to see Maxwell hit the same shot off Narine for four as soon as he walked out to bat.

5. Wasim Akram was the first person to walk up to the pitch once it had been rolled and was ready for the KXIP vs KKR match. He knocked a few punches into the surface and then walked over to Gautam Gambhir to have a chat.

6. Preity Zinta and Juhi Chawla arrived together to the ground and walked into the Royal Box. Juhi took a seat there while Preity asked for where the Punjab box was. Lucky for me, it was right behind us, next to Mallya's box.



7. The security was tighter this time around Preity Zinta's box and walking up to her to take pictures was impossible, but watching her expressions throughout the match from 10 feet away was more than I could ask for. Having seen all the histrionics on TV for the past 7 years, it was a treat to watch it all from up close.



8. Juhi Chawla has the best smile in the business!



























9. Shahrukh Khan arrived during the second half of Punjab's innings. He came with Sheikh Nahyan and sat in the royal box. For the next 3 hours, it was a Shahrukh Khan show. Every Punjab wicket, every boundary hit by KKR was followed by SRK standing on his feet, clapping, waving, and asking the crowd to cheer louder. That man cannot stay away from being center stage.


Once again, I ws lucky to be about 10 feet away from him and managed to experience what I have seen all this while on TV in person.

The name "Shahrukh" was probably screamed every second during that time as fans tried to get his attention.

There was more focus on Shahrukh Khan then there was on the match.

It was a sight!



10. At the end of 11 overs, KKR were 50-3 and it seemed that they would reach the target. Just then Preity Zinta got up from her seat and walked to the edge of her box to speak to someone. At that same moment, Chris Lynn was clean bowled. Someone from the Punjab contingent asked Preity to stay there and not move till the end of the game.

While Preity stood there at the edge of her box, KKR lost 6 wickets in the next 7 overs, and with it the match.

The superstition regarding people's positions in the dressing rooms, dugouts, and elsewhere, which is quite common in the Indian dressing room, surely worked for Punjab that day.

The cricket was dull and boring, but the entertainment around the ground was top notch.

Nothing like it!

This is what Virender Sehwag said to Shoaib Akhtar when Sachin Tendulkar hooked him for a 6.

The story goes something like this:

Sehwag was batting on a score close to 200... Shoaib Akhtar kept peppering him with bouncers and kept asking Sehwag to hook... Sehwag's response to Akhtar was "your daddy is batting at the other end, ask him and he will hook"... Sachin was batting at the other end... Shoaib bowled the bouncer to him... Sachin hooked him for 6... that is when Sehwag uttered those words.

Here, hear it from Sehwag himself as he tell Shahrukh Khan the story during the recently held Sahara India Sports Awards.

But where is the video of Sehwag uttering those words?

Which match was it?

Did it actually happen?

The one Sachin 6 off Shoaib that comes to mind is the one over point during the World Cup match in 2003.

When was this famous hook for 6?

A friend, Maryam Haroon, investigated this story further and here is what she found.

In test matches against Pakistan, Sehwag has been close to a score of 200 on 4 occasions:

1. 309 in Multan, 2004. Shoaib played the game, Sachin scored 194*, but his innings did not include any 6.

2. 173 in Mohali 2005. Shoaib did not play.

3. 201 in Bangalore 2005. Shoaib did not play.

4. 254 in Lahore 2006. Sachin did not get to bat.

So the incident definitely did not take place in a test match.

So maybe it was an ODI?

Well Sehwag has never got to a score of close to 200 in an ODI against Pakistan, but he does have two centuries. The 108 in Kochi, 2005, when Sachin scored only 4; and the 119 in Karachi, 2008, a game that Sachin did not play.

So then, a made up story being told by Sehwag on national Television?

There doesn't seem to be much truth in it.

So what was it then? A story told for entertainment value? Marketing the Shoaib vs Sachin or Shoaib vs Sehwag rivalry? Belittling Shoaib Akhtar?

Decide for yourself.

I just found out about this through a friend on Facebook, but again through Facebook I found out that Zeeshan Ahmed had already broken this story on his blog long way back.

Just when we thought that his shady revelation was the last we would hear from him, he makes his comeback.

The Fake IPL Player is back and he is going to England to follow the ICC World Twenty20!

Oh no!

So I guess now we will hear of all the lowdown regarding international countries and players.

For some reason, I don't like the sound of that.

I took it all in good humor when the Fake gave the players nicknames. Even when some people found them crude, I thought they were just hilarious.

Its just people after all - we all make fun of them.

But calling international countries with names like "d*cks of d*ckland" and "d*cks of South Asia" is out of line in my opinion.

That is just not right.

However, I guess that puts the theories about him being hired by Shahrukh Khan or him being on Lalit Modi's payroll to rest.

Why would they pay him to for promoting the ICC World Twenty20?

Someone needs to stop him though. He can give us all the juicy details he wants, but he CAN'T call countries degrading names like that!

Unfortunately, after reading the post below, some people have concluded that Son of Bosey was behind the Fake IPL Player.

Unfortunately that also resulted in Son of Bosey writing and claiming that he is not.

Anand, Bosey, Son of Bosey - No where have I implied that you are behind the FIP.

For those of you who deduced this after reading the post below, please read it again.

All I said was that Bosey was hired by SRK for the KKR website last year.

Last year.

Not this year. Last year!

Considering that, I mentioned that we cannot rule out the fact that SRK might have hired someone this year.

Someone being FIP.

NOT Bosey.

Bosey is not FIP.

FIP is not Bosey.

I did not claim that either.

Hope this is calrified.

Thanks to Raj, we might be on to the biggest scoop ever regarding the Fake IPL Player.

After Fake's shady disclosure, we had this post up, which resulted in quite a discussion.

During that discussion, Raj mentioned Son of Bosey and how he had been hired by Shah Rukh Khan last year to do some stuff for the Kolkata Knight Riders official website.

I had not heard about Bosey before tonight, till Raj pointed me to it. They are an Indian humour site, and are apparently doing some work on Cricinfo's Page 2 as well.

Coming back to Bosey, SRK, and KKR.

According to this post, dated 18th April 2008 (the day last year's IPL began), Bosey was hired by SRK to create spoof magazine covers, ads, and newspaper articles for the KKR wesbite.

When you click on the links provided by Bosey for these spoof creations, you will notice the URL of the KKR website, but you will also notice, "Page Not Found".

Well that is because these spoof mag covers, ads, and articles were not well received by other IPL franchises, cricketers, and officials.

This unapproval of the Bosey spoofs is witnessed in the exchange of comments between Anand and Raj, in the post that I have linked to above.

Hence, these spoofs were discontinued and the whole idea died down. Even the ones created were taken off the KKR website.

Based on this, Raj concluded that it was possible that since an official idea to make fun of cricketers in the IPL did not take off last year, SRK tried to do it again this year, albeit unofficially.

Unofficially through the damn Fake IPL Player!

Now it maybe far fetched for Raj to think on those lines, but to me it makes a lot of sense. Connect the dots and you can see the potential link of the Fake to SRK.

And we're not the only ones who have suggested this link. Many other bloggers have also hinted that it could very well be a journalist on the SRK payroll.

Maybe the shady disclosure, in which the Fake IPL Player signs off with a title of an SRK movie, is a subtle hint that he is in fact on the payroll of SRK.

Doesn't sound far fetched to me at all.

That is one scoop; we at Well Pitched have another.

Bosey's spoof ads, mag covers, and articles are no where to be found on the KKR website.

However, as soon as I read Bosey's post about what he was doing for SRK, I remembered that last year I had downloaded some stuff from the KKR website.

So I dug deep into my archives and old external hard drives and was pleasantly surprised at my memory.

I had in fact downloaded all this stuff last year. Here it is, take a look for yourself as to why all this was discontinued.



And there's more where these came from.

So then. What do you think?

Is the Fake IPL Player a Shah Rukh Khan employee?

A journalist actually travelling with the Kolkata Knight Riders?

After taking a look at what SRK attempted last year and the fact that it was discontinued, I believe that the Fake is most probably that - one on the SRK payroll.

The Fake IPL Player promised that Wednesday would be the day when he comes out in the open.

He kept his promise alright.

Here's his revelation.

So who is he?

As I said, the man is a coward and a bit too smart to come out in the open and disclose himself.

With some shady shadow play, Fake reveals it all in his 4 minute speech.

All but his name.

Cricket, match fixing, bollywood, entertaiment, he links it all and talks sense.

Maybe some people would be able to figure out who he is, I could not.

A few things are for sure though - he's not a cricket player as he first claimed. He's a journalist with inside info. He's from Delhi but is a major fan of Kolkata.

And he's a fan of Bollywood and SRK as well - why then his chosen name for SRK, I'm not sure.

You know what I think. Now I'm pretty sure that he was someone on the payroll of SRK. Looks and sounds like that to me.

The question now is, will the blog continue or was this his last post?

"Which of the IPL franchises will become Twenty20’s equivalent of Manchester United, Real Madrid or LA Lakers?"
That is not me asking you. The CEO of MTI Consulting asks that in a new report on the IPL titled, IPL Brand Value Scorecard 2009.
The report is a joint effort between MTI Consulting and Intangible Business, and presents the Brand Valuations of the 8 IPL franchises.
The report is quite an interesting read as are the results of the Brand Valuation Excercise.
Surprised? So was I!
Well atleast the Kolkata Knight Riders are topping some sort of table.
But one surely raises an eyebrow when they see the worst performing team of IPL 2009 at the top, no matter what the excercise, and the defending champions right at the bottom.
MTI Consulting and Intangible Business explain this by stating that on-field performance hold no bearing over the valuation of a brand.
That does sound slightly strange considering that the valuation excercise is that of sporting entities, hence how strong or how good a team is should have some bearing on its value.
That is not the case however. The value being calculated is of the brand name, in a way the business entity that a Kolkata Knight Riders or Delhi Daredevils is, rather than the cricket team.
Hence the factors that go behind calculating the value of these 8 IPL franchises are things like their ability to engage with local communities, star power, media exposure, international relevance, ability to generate future income, public interest, and so on.
So what MTI Consulting and Intangible Business did was gather data regarding the teams such as website visits, match attendance, TV viewing figures, and other things.
They say this was publicly available data, and all from 2008, hence the Fake IPL Player plays no part in the calculation of KKR's brand value.
Well atleast Shahrukh Khan has something to smile about!
The whole methodology, the data used, what it means, and the rankings with explanations in detail can be seen in the full report, which as I said is an interesting read.
You can download it from here, or send me an email on wellpitched@gmail.com and I will mail it to you along with the quotes from the directors at MTI Consulting and Intangible Business.

SP reported it on BCC!, while Jrod asked how much you would pay for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

But it seems like all those used spoons and cutlery, mangy towels, rechargeable batteries, crisps, milkshakes; and everything else you all were willing to offer Shah Rukh Khan; will not be of any use as King Khan has denied that he is looking to sell his cricket team.

"The amount of love I have invested in it, nobody in this world can afford to buy it"

That is what SRK said after casting his vote in India.

Now we know that its SRK's love that is invested in KKR and not his money.

No wonder the team hasn't been able to win anything in the IPL.

Someone needs to tell SRK that he needs to stop paying his players in kind and needs to dish out the moolah.

That will get them to perform.

On the pitch that is, not where SRK wants them to perform.

We also know now that SRK's love is not for sale!

You can't buy it. You can only earn it.

Karan-Arjun will vouch for that.

Despite denying the rumors that he was selling KKR, he did say that he will not be returning to South Africa any time soon.

"If my team continues to lose like this, I am not going back to South Africa. I will go only when they play well and win"

SRK has ditched his team alright, but he's not selling it.

So if he's going to keep it and since KKR are not going to win anything, then SRK is definitely thinking of an overhaul.

Bye bye Buchanan and family? Surely.

What about McCullum? He'll play I guess but won't captain for sure.

And Saurav? Will probably come back and lead unless SRK wants burnt effigies of himself all over Kolkata.

What about the Fake IPL Player? Maybe he'll get a game, but his latest post says that he's going to retire from all forms of cricket following the IPL and also disclose his identity!

Suddenly, I can't wait for the IPL to be over!