: Contrary to speculations that coach John Buchanan's multiple-captains theory was an attempt to sideline Sourav Ganguly, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Tuesday announced that they would continue with only one captain in the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament to be held in South Africa next month.

The team management released a statement this evening after a meeting between incumbent skipper Sourav Ganguly, the team's owner Shah Rukh Khan and coach-cum-manager John Buchanan. This is the first time that Shah Rukh had a formal meeting with the coach and Sourav ever since Buchanan mooted the idea of multiple captains.

The statement confirmed that KKR would be having only one captain but four or five coaches or strategists. These experts will assist the one captain on field with their viewpoints on the gameplan set earlier.

Earlier in the day, Shah Rukh Khan rubbished reports that Ganguly was being sidelined by Buchanan. "There is no Kolkata Knight Riders without Dada," he asserted.

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 would 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.