Shah Rukh Khan birthday: When Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill did the SRK pose - Watch

Fondly known as ‘King’ of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan turned 59 on November 2, 2024. Migrating from Delhi to Mumbai with big dreams, Shah Rukh’s journey to an ultimate global superstar is nothing short of a Bollywood script. Besides film and acting, Shah Rukh is also a co-owner of defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

In fact, KKR are one of the most successful franchises in IPL after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI), winning the title thrice. Both MI and CSK have five titles each. But do you remember, the Indian cricketers once imitated SRK’s trademark pose to wish Shah Rukh on his birthday.

In a video posted by one of the biggest sporting apparel brands, star Indian cricketers like Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav did the trademark pose of the actor.

Watch Indian cricketer's tribute to SRK

The video came out at the same time India were playing in the ODI World Cup at home. However, Rohit's men lost to a heartbreaking loss to Australia in the final. 

KKR's IPL 2025 retentions

Meanwhile, SRK's KKR released their six retentions before IPL 2025 mega auction. The defending champions surprisingly released captain Shreyas Iyer while retaining Rinku Singh ( ₹13 crore), Varun Chakaravarthy ( ₹12 crore), Sunil Narine ( ₹12 crore), Andre Russell ( ₹12 crore), Harshit Rana ( ₹4 crore) and Ramandeep Singh ( ₹4 crore).

The three-time champions go into IPL 2025 mega auction with a remaining purse of ₹51 crore and no right-to-match options available. Before 2024, KKR have won the titles in 2012 and 2014, both under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. 

Interestingly, Gambhir was KKR's mentor in IPL 2024. The former Indian cricketer is currently the head coach of Indian cricket team.