Ganguly, Maharaj of Knight Riders

“I chose the name Knight Riders from the term ‘Knights in Shining Armour’ who go out to fight wars. Winning and losing is all part of sport, we will play to win.”

The team’s captain Ganguly ruled out the possibility of any one-upmanship arising between Akhtar and Ishant over the fastest bowler tag.

“We have a good bowling attack for Twenty20. Shoaib Akhtar is one of cricket’s leading pace bowlers and Ishant has just come back from Australia where he proved his worth. Ajit Agarkar is another with ability to bowl fast,” said the ex-India captain.

Kolkata Knight Riders will have two current ODI captains in Ricky Ponting (Australia) and Chris Gayle (West Indies).

The Indian, given the mantle of captaincy in the IPL, was asked about the problem he may face leading two captains. “Each player has a reputation to defend. When Ponting goes out there to bat for Australia, club or World XI, people coming to watch expect good performance from him.

“The same applies to other big names in international cricket. When India toured Australia for the Test matches, we had four ex-captains in Sachin Tendulkar, me, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, who is the current Test skipper. India’s display in the Tests was one of the highlights of the tour.”