With just a few months left until the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season kicks off, IPL founder Lalit Modi gave a glimpse into the origins of what has emerge as the world’s largest cricket event. Modi mentioned Shah Rukh Khan’s role in the league and the way the actor have become the proprietor of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Although KKR has grown into one of the maximum cherished groups, Modi discovered that KKR wasn’t Khan’s first desire. The actor had initially attempted to accumulate franchises in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad before ultimately selecting Kolkata. In a communication with Raj Shamani on his podcast, Lalit Modi defined that everybody may want to bid for any crew throughout the initial IPL auctions. He revealed that Shah Rukh Khan become specially inquisitive about bidding for teams in Ahmedabad or Mumbai, but his bid changed into lower, so he ended up obtaining Kolkata Knight Riders rather.

Modi shared that Mumbai was Khan’s first desire, however Mukesh Ambani secured it. Bangalore changed into SRK’s 2nd preference, but it went to Vijay Mallya, and his 1/3 preference changed into Delhi, which additionally went to any other bidder.

Modi stated that SRK’s bid became round 70-80 million, while the bids for these towns were around 100 million. Kolkata, at 85-87 million, turned into where Shah Rukh Khan’s bid succeeded.

In the same interview, Modi mentioned Shah Rukh Khan’s importance to the IPL, stating that his involvement helped appeal to ladies and children to the sport, which changed into essential for the match's fulfillment in terms of viewership.He stated, “For me, Shah Rukh turned into going to usher in girls and children into the game. Women and children were extremely important for IPL to click in terms of viewership.”

He similarly explained how SRK's presence impacted the IPL's boom, “In yr one, we had to pay celebrities to wait. By yr , they got here on their very own. By yr 3, they wanted to be invited because absolutely everyone desired to be a part of the sport.”

Modi additionally referred to that when SRK’s involvement, different celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, and others have become logo ambassadors, further boosting the IPL's recognition.