In 2008, Khan, in partnership with Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta, acquired ownership rights for the franchise representing Kolkata in the Twenty20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL) for US$75.09 million, and named the team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).^[241] As of 2009, KKR was one of the richest teams in the IPL, with a brand value of US$42.1 million.^[242] The team performed poorly on the field during the first three years.^[243] Their performance improved over time, and they became the champions for the first time in 2012^[243] and repeated the feat in 2014.^[244] The Knight Riders hold the record for the longest winning streak by any Indian team in T20s (14).^[245] They won their third IPL title in the 2024 edition.^[246]

Khan performed alongside Sunidhi Chauhan and Shriya Saran at the opening ceremony of the IPL 2011 season, where they danced to Tamil songs.^[247] He appeared again in 2013 alongside Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and Pitbull.^[248] In May 2012, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) banned him from the Wankhede Stadium for five years for getting into an argument with the security staff after a match between KKR and the Mumbai Indians.^[249] Khan had, however, stated that he acted only after children, including his daughter, were being “manhandled” by the security staff^[249][250] and that the officials were extremely high-handed and aggressive in their behaviour,^[251] he had been abused with communal indecent comment.^[250] Later MCA officials had accused him of being drunk in one version of the story, hitting the guard and of completely uncharacteristically abusing a female supporter of Mumbai Indians after the match in another version of the story, which Khan had maintained it was done to support their action and for cheap publicity.^{[250][252][253]} Wankhede guard later contradicted MCA officials’ claim and said Shah Rukh Khan had not hit him.^[250] Khan later apologised to his fans after his team won the final match.^[254] MCA revoked the ban in 2015^[255] and in 2016, Mumbai Police informed that no ‘cognisable offence’ was made out against Khan and they had come to the conclusion that Shah Rukh Khan was not drunk and did not use abusive language before minors at the Wankhede Stadium in 2012.^[252][253]