Being dropped from the Gujarat Titans team midway through IPL 2026 and from Tamil Nadu's T20 squad midway through the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy prior to the IPL made things "tough" for the finisher Shahrukh Khan. But he has now put that phase behind him and hit form in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), where he has led Kovai Kings to the final.
After a shaky start to the TNPL, too, Shahrukh has brought out the big hits and is embracing the highs and lows of T20 cricket.
"It was tough. A lot of thoughts [were] going in my head when things weren't going well," Shahrukh said at Chepauk ahead of the TNPL final. "I really don't know what to say because that's something in the past. I don't want to think about what happened and how bad the last year was.
"But I have had some tremendous years... over the past five-six years. So, one bad year is bound to happen. But when that happens, you do feel bad. Everybody is human and you do understand that it is something that has to happen. Just thinking in a positive way how to get out of it and at present things are fine. Never know, the next month will be horrible again. But what to do about it. My job is just to keep at it and do as much as possible."
Retained by GT for INR 4 crore since the last mega auction, Shahrukh has displayed flashes of the explosive power he has shown in domestic cricket and TNPL over time, but has passed 50 only twice in 54 IPL innings and 30 just six times. He plays a similar role for his TNPL franchise: come out in the lower-middle order and swing the first ball for six. Shahrukh has made a good fist of the role in this TNPL, having a strike rate of 172.95, but doesn't want to evaluate himself based on numbers.
"The role that I play is very volatile," Shahrukh said. "Sometimes, I've read horrible things about me in papers. Sometimes I've read brilliant things about me in papers. But I just can't go with those things. Nobody will know what's going on in a person's head when he's batting or when he's bowling or when he's going for a catch.
"And no matter how big a coach or how big a captain you are or how big an observer of the game you are, you just can't get into the player's head at the end of the day. There might be personal problems, there might be professional problems, you never know. But the most important thing is to just neglect all of these things and just think as simple as possible."
Fast spinner M Siddharth's 'bouncer will be useful in IPL'
Along with Shahrukh, M Siddharth has been central to Kovai's success in the TNPL, especially with the new ball. An Akeal Hosein-style left-arm fingerspinner, who broke into the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) side as a powerplay operator who swings the new ball into right-hand batters, Siddharth has now been digging short balls to batters like Krunal Pandya has done recently.
Along with England international Dan Mousley, Siddharth is among the fastest spinners in T20 cricket and in this TNPL, he has gone faster by regularly breaching the 110-kph mark. These rare skills will serve Siddharth well in the IPL, according to his TNPL captain Shahrukh.
"Yeah, there's a joke going around that he's definitely bowling faster than Deeban [Lingesh and other fast bowlers]," Shahrukh said. "I just spoke to him yesterday on our way back to the hotel that he's bowling at his best. When he's looking to spin the ball, he is giving it revolutions and when he's looking to push it in, there is tremendous spin. The ball is also swinging and I feel very lucky to have him on the team.
"Yeah, he was telling me from the start of the tournament that he wants to bowl bouncers. I've been stopping him from doing that (laughs). He bowled one to Sandeep Warrier. The bouncer - I think it will be useful for him in the IPL."