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IPL 2021: Punjab have a new hero and his name is Shahrukh Khan

Dubai - Shahrukh Khan had played a pivotal role in Tamil Nadu winning the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

As they found themselves in more than a spot of bother, Shahrukh Khan came to the rescue, in true Bollywood style, but even his heroics perhaps, might not be enough to give this one a happy ending.

But this Shahrukh Khan is not the ‘King of Bollywood’ but his namesake in the Punjab Kings line-up. With wickets falling in a flurry and the Punjab Kings 19-4 after Nicholas Pooran fell for a nought, Shahrukh Khan came in and played a defiant knock to help them muster 106-8 in their 20 overs.

The 25-year-old put on 31 runs from 36 deliveries with Jhye Richardson for the sixth wicket and then went on to add 31 off 28 balls with his Tamil Nadu teammate M Ashwin. He truly deserved a half-century for his gritty and dogged innings but fell three runs short of that milestone.

The Tamil Nadu finisher was bought by the Punjab Kings for Rs.5.25 crore, more than 51 times his base price of Rs.20 lakh, at the IPL mini-auction held in February and co-owner Preity Zinta let out her famous dimpled smile before telling Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan, who was sitting at the Kolkata Knight Riders table: “We got Shahrukh!”

Shahrukh Khan had played a pivotal role in Tamil Nadu winning the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy recently and had also scored handsomely in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with scores of 55 not out against Punjab, 67 not out against Madhya Pradesh and 51 against Jharkhand. And here he was, playing a crucial knock against his ‘home’ team.