Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir is extremely disappointed about the way the team’s victory celebration at the Eden Gardens was marred by chaos this past week. Hundreds of fans suffered minor injuries after they were charged at by the police with their batons as they tried to make their way into the fabled stadium to catch a glimpse of their cricketing heroes as well as the team’s star co-owner, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
Almost 100,000 fans from all over the city as well as the outskirts turned up at the Eden Gardens on what was a very hot and sultry day to catch a glimpse of their favorite cricketers being felicitated by the state government.
Shah Rukh Khan himself arrived over two hours later after a technical fault had grounded his aircraft at the Mumbai Airport.
While some 50,000 fans were able to make their way into the stadium with some old match tickets that had been reissued and distributed by the police as passes, almost the same number had to wait outside as they couldn’t enter the stadium for the hastily organized event.
Unable to control the unruly mob seething with anger at being denied entry, the police charged their batons on the crowd leaving several injured and profusely bleeding.
And writing on his column for an Indian daily, Gambhir said that he was immensely disappointed with the way the felicitation caused so much bloodshed and became a matter of inconvenience for the citizens. He added that in India, the fans, who are the most important stakeholders of the game, are not treated particularly well. And the police brutality on the fans made matters all the more worse.
The Knight Riders won their second IPL title after beating the Kings XI Punjab on Sunday the 1st of June.