After the entire buzz that Shahrukh Khan created in the film Chak De, hockey in India didn’t seem to get a face lift. But SRK’s frequent appearances at various cricket matches; cheering on the Indian cricket team had everyone wondering why Shahrukh was a frequent visitor at these matches. Was it his passion for the game?

Shahrukh was often criticized stating that his appearance at matches was a good PR strategy being used by King Khan to promote his movies. But now the verdict is out.

Shahrukh has emerged as one of the successful bidders at the auction of city franchises of the Indian Premier League — the BCCI's mega-hyped Twenty20 competition which seeks to recreate the magic of soccer's English Premier League and basketball's NBA championship.

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, along with actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jai Mehta, is now the proud owner of the Kolkata team, with a bid of $75.09 million (about Rs 296 crore).

The leading lady in many SRK films, Preity Zinta — along with Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Dabur's Mohit Burman — bagged Yuvraj Singh's Mohali team for $76 million (about Rs 300 crore).

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited was the highest bidder in all the cities; it opted for the Mumbai team at $111.9 million (about Rs 441 crore). Liquor baron Vijay Mallya's UB group — which already has a Formula One team, Force India — came a close second in its bid for Mumbai, at $111.6 million, and settled for Bangalore.

While actors like Mithun Chakrabothy own hotels and Sunil Shetty runs a spree of restaurants; looks like King Khan is looking forward to newer avenues of revenue.