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."

Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; January 28, 2014)

Stand up comic Kapil Sharma, who was supposed to co-host the inaugural day of CCL 4 with Mandira Bedi in the city on Saturday, walked out of his hosting duties at the nth hour, apparently due to not getting a vanity van!

"He was to reach the stadium at noon to rehearse with Mandira. But he reached a good two hours late (2 pm), leaving no time for the rehearsal," reveals an event organiser. Besides reaching the venue late, Kapil's team began to ask for multiple things from the organisers. "They started demanding last minute changes to the script. He was adamant on being given a vanity van. We offered him an AC room, but he refused, as the commentary box was on the other side and we were told he cannot walk all the way!" reveals the official.  When his demands were not met, Kapil and his team walked out of the event within half an hour of reaching there. Worried that this might jeopardise his relationship with Salman and Sohail Khan (co-owner Mumbai Heroes), Kapil's team tried calling the latter. "But Sohail categorically told them to keep him out of it," says the official, adding, "They have been desperately trying to make amends, but we will not have them back."

However, a close friend of Kapil, who had accompanied him to the match, justified his decision citing 'creative and logistical issues'. She reasoned, "We reached at 1 pm as we had got stuck in traffic. After we reached, no provisions were made. Kapil sat on the floor for an hour and a half. There were no chairs, no water. His back started to hurt. Besides, he needs space to rehearse. A room was offered to us when we almost left. We didn't leave because of the vanity van. The organisers wanted him to sit in the commentary box. But Kapil is not a cricket expert. We had our script ready, but no one from the CCL creative team spoke to us!"

Speaking about the remuneration, Kapil's friend says, "In the contract, Kapil has been signed for four matches and paid  Rs 13 lakh in advance for one. We also texted Vishnu sir (founder, managing director, CCL) about the confusion. We have no hard feelings and are hoping to go for the Dubai match."

We texted and called Kapil, but his phone was unreachable.