The story going the rounds is that Shahrukh Khan was cooking when John Buchanan, accompanied by Gayle, Mccullum, Hodge and Ganguly came in and said “Look Master what have we brought.”

Shahrukh Khan, too busy with the stew, did not turn around and just said share whatever you have between you.

Then he glanced back and saw that John Buchanan was standing with the “captaincy” golden helmet with him.

And so it came to pass that Kolkata Knight Riders had 5 captains. This is also the reason why rivals would taunt KKR by calling her  “Paanch patiyowaali”.

This story would have become true (kind of) had Buchanan been allowed to have his way.

That however with SRK’s latest pronouncement (at the time of writing) is not so sure right now.

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Sachin Tendulkar says that the current team is definitely the best batting lineup he has ever been part of (and boy has he been part of several).

Though it very well might be an off-the-cuff remark made by Sachin Tendulkar without serious deliberation, something that is only to be expected after a glorious display of raw batting prowess from himself and the team, it is the kind of statement that starts off a generational battle between the old-timers and the young guns and leads to much impassioned activity on bulletin boards and Orkut communities.

As a not-very-objective sentimental old-timer myself, my first reaction was one of “Really?”Surely a batting line-up that had the Sachin of old, Sourav, Dravid, Azharuddin, Jadeja sounds much more formidable than the one of today. The Sachin of today, with still the ability to bring a ODI 150 out of his bag, is not a spot on the Sachin of yore. Sehwag it may be argued is the new Sachin but there still will always be a difference in class and reliability. Which leaves Gambhir, Yuvraj, Raina on one side and Dravid, Sourav and Azhar on the other and a person-by-person comparison between the two, in terms of achievement and reputation, is a rather damning win in favor of the oldies.

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