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[caption id="attachment_11455" align="alignnone" width="580"] Mike Horn discussing a point with KKR trainer Adrian Le Roux. Image Source : XtraTime[/caption] Kolkata: World famous South African adventurer Mike Horn claims Kolkata Knight Riders to be one of the favourites to win this year’s IPL. According to Horn the biggest positive for KKR is they don’t have a superstar but a bunch of determined individuals who knows how to win. Mr Horn was instrumental in inspiring MS Dhoni and his team winning the 2011 World Cup in India. The South African was also a motivating influence for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Champion German team. He also played a key role when Gautam Gambhir and his team lifted the IPL for a second time in 2014. In an exclusive interview to xtratime.in correspondent Sukarno Sen, Mr. Horn compared KKR with the 2014 FIFA World Cup Champion German team. Here are the excerpts from the interview: XT: How have the sessions been with the Knights so far? Horn: I have a lot of discussion with the players to develop their skills. I try to find out in each player something that is very unique and if you can make that player develop for which he is unique then you can develop the player for the team you know. So a lot of players think they have to take all the responsibilities of the team but we don’t need the players to take all the responsibilities of the team. We want eleven players to take their own responsibilities and then you make a good team. XT: What did the captain and coach tell you about their visions about their team this season? Horn: Gautam Gambhir comes to this tournament very well prepared. He has worked really hard keeping himself supremely fit. If you work physically hard on your preparation you feel good about yourself. It is very important for a captain to feel good about himself and I think Gautam is in a very good shape at this stage. With Jacque Kallis being the head coach with Gautam being in top condition physically and some of the older players of the team really willing to work hard to make the team perform well this year. Gautam is at the top of his game at this stage to really do well this season. [caption id="attachment_11456" align="alignnone" width="580"] Mike Horn with the German footballers during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Image Source : Mike Horn[/caption] XT: During the 2014 World Cup you took the German team out for sailing for motivational purpose. Do you have any plans to do something similar with KKR players? Horn: Well here there isn’t much opportunity to take the players outdoors due to the tight fixtures but some of the Indian boys have done pre-training camps in South Africa where they have worked really hard. But here what I personally do is share my personal experience in tough conditions during expeditions. My motivational classes revolve around my expeditions. I am going to share my experiences climbing the K2 and Makalu. I shared a little bit of my experience I had with the German football team. We do it in an informal way. I like doing motivational talks showing them pictures about reaching the summit of a mountain, able to go further than what you think you really could and push you to the limits and as well for the team which is important you think everything is possible for them. I share some of my videos as well. XT: How do you connect players coming from different countries and cultures to be a unit? Horn: Well I think for the players to be able to connect it is very important they connect very well with yourself; you know what you do for the team. It is important for the players to give them the faith to be able to play with freedom and if you give the players faith you connect them spiritually to themselves. XT: What is your opinion about the current team? Horn: KKR is like the 2014 FIFA World Cup winning German team which didn’t have any major superstars but they had an excellent team, every individual knew how to execute their own responsibilities. With KKR it is no different, as every player is aware of his responsibilities and in a pressure situation when you know your job well you perform perfectly and this would win them the IPL just like the German’s won the World Cup. It is not the superstars that win you always but it is the players in the team. XT: Sunil Narine is just coming back from getting his action cleared by ICC. How do you plan to motivate him as he will be under a lot of mental pressure? Horn: The fact that he has been cleared to bowl again will give him a lot of confidence psychologically because he knows that he has worked a lot with his action and now he can play with a lot of freedom. He is a magician with the ball and can do what others cannot. So he has got a lot of confidence those other bowlers. When you have that confidence then you don’t really care of who is watching you, you just perform. Narine Boost for Knight Riders, Bowling Action Cleared by ICC XT: Have you set any catch-line for the Knights this season? Horn: I think we are going to work a lot on determination. As you know it is very difficult to stop a determined person. We would first of all do what we enjoy doing i.e., winning. I don’t play the game to compete, but to win at all costs: Gambhir XT: What is Shahrukh Khan’s influence in the team? Horn: I think Shahrukh is a huge motivation for the team. He gives a lot of freedom to the players and treats them as a member of the family. This is not a franchise to make only money but here there is love and everyone wants to meet each other and have a good time. Credit goes to Shahrukh to keep this environment.