Mumbai: "There is no Kolkata Knight Riders without Dada," asserted team owner Shah Rukh Khan while rubbishing speculation that Sourav Ganguly was being sidelined by coach John Buchanan's idea to have multiple captains for the Indian Premier League second season.

Shah Rukh said the team's decision to have multiple captains was in no way meant to sideline the team's icon player Ganguly, who has hardly minced words in ridiculing the concept.

According to the idea put forth by Buchanan, Ganguly will have to share the captaincy with three others -- New Zealand Brendon McCullum, West Indies' Chris Gayle and Laxmi Ratan Shukla.

The Bollywood star said it was just an experiment and KKR would not exist without Ganguly.

"Let me tell you, there is no Kolkata Knight Riders without Dada. We love him," he said on the sidelines of a fashion show.

"We are a team and no decision is taken by one person. Twenty20 is a new format and new things are being tried. Too much has been said, we are not having four captains in one match. It's going to be one captain in one match," he said. "But in case something goes wrong, we need to have a back-up," he added.

The IPL second season starts April 18 in South Africa as a clash of dates with the general elections had forced the organisers to move the event out of India.