Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who also happens to be a co-owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kolkata Knight Riders, played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between Sahara Group and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

With a series of hectic discussions which led to breaking the 12-day impasse between Sahara and BCCI, King Khan went out of the way to bring things back on track. In fact, SRK motivated everybody to broker a deal in the interest of IPL and cricket. Union Minister Rajiv Shukla, who also happens to be BCCI vice-president, thanked the actor for his role in ending the dispute between the board and its sponsor.

"I am happy at the deal. I thank Subroto Roy for this. Things have been resolved. No rules have been bent for them. As for sponsorship, there was no humiliation for BCCI. And a special thanks to SRK, who went out of his way to help," Shukla said on Thursday evening. After the issue being settled amicably, Sahara has also agreed to field its team Pune Warriors in the forthcoming fifth season of IPL.