Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 25, 2014)

Mumbai Heroes, the CCL (Celebrity Cricket League) team owned by Sohail Khan, was enjoying a good run in the fourth edition of the tournament after three years of lost matches. But the spell came to an abrupt end when they lost the semi-final to Karnataka Bulldozers in Bangalore, yesterday. Mirror has the real story on what went wrong.  

A source from the team has revealed to this newspaper that there was dissention in the ranks, courtesy a rift between Aftab Shivdasani and the team’s captain Suniel Shetty. After a long-drawn rift, things recently came to a head following which Suniel walked out and returned to Mumbai mid-tournament. Salman Khan, the team's brand ambassador was not amused by the spat as the two actors allegedly came to blows during a meeting in Bhubaneshwar, just before the match against Bengal Tigers in Cuttack. An eyewitness told Mirror, "Aftab and Suniel had to be separated. The spat was full of expletives. Aftab felt that Suniel has been a biased captain while Suniel felt that Aftab is too slow a player.” Suniel then decided not to be a part of the playing eleven in the Cuttack match and was also missing when the Mumbai team played against Veer Marathi in Hyderabad. Worse still, Suniel didn’t even come to the grounds in the semis. Buzz is, Aftab and Suniel have not been on the same page for four years. A source close to Suniel, told Mirror, "Aftab who is Suniel's deputy, tends to take decisions and when Suniel tries to explian his decisions to Aftab, he throws a fit.” Added the source, "Suniel's exit affected the team adversely. Though they won the next two matches after Suniel's walkout, they lost the all-important semi final. Suniel is a good batsman and his presence may have made the difference. Moreover, his exit played on the minds of his teammates.” While Aftab chose not comment on his ' daggers drawn' equation with his team's captain, Suniel simply said, "My father has been unwell. Hence, I did not play the three matches in question."