Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly on Thursday (July 9) said he had asked Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) co-owner Shah Rukh Khan to give him a free hand when he was leading the franchise. But his wish wasn’t fulfilled as he captained the side in the early years of Indian Premier League.

See Also: Aakash Chopra reveals John Buchanan didn't want Sourav Ganguly as KKR captain

Ganguly’s comment came in the wake of Gautam Gambhir’s remark that Shah Rukh had told him he would be given a free hand when he was given the KKR captaincy in 2011.

“I was seeing an interview where Gautam Gambhir said Shah Rukh Khan had told him in the fourth year ‘This is your team, I will not interfere.’ That’s what I told him in the first year. Leave it to me. It didn’t happen,” Ganguly said in an interview with Gautam Bhattacharya on his YouTube channel.

“The best IPL teams have been those that have left the team to the players. Look at CSK, MS Dhoni runs it. In Mumbai also, no one goes up to Rohit Sharma and tells him to select certain players,” he added.

Under Ganguly, KKR finished at the sixth position in the inaugural edition of IPL and in 2010. He was eventually not retained by his home franchise after the 2010 season.

Reflecting on his removal from captaincy in the 2009 season, Ganguly said, “Thought process was the issue there. The coach (John Buchanan) believed we needed four captains. So it was just a difference of opinion, he thought, ‘Let me have 4 captains, then I can run it my way.'”

Buchanan was replaced by Dav Whatmore after the team ended at the bottom in the 2009 edition, with Ganguly returning as captain for one more season, before he was released and KKR began a new journey under Gambhir.

“The problems (with Buchanan) started towards the end of the first season. The problem was not me, the problem was the system of having one captain. We had Brendon Mccullum, we had x, we had a bowling captain, and i don’t know captain for what else,” Ganguly said about his relation with the former KKR coach.