Sourav Ganguly

Well, it was kind of pretty much insulting and shocking when a maverick Ganguly was first un-retained and then left un-auctioned. He was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders for the first three seasons. And, his performance was quite good considering him even as an all-rounder in the season 3 – He was the third highest run-getter in the previous IPL edition. His kind of exclusion from the auction by the bidders got all his fans buzzing. ‘Dada’ – The Bengal Tiger was roaring to go for this IPL. He was even participating in Ranji Matches for being in touch with the game. But, then IPL isn’t all about just fame and big names! The franchises were seen with totally shocking, unexpected and weird decisions during the auctions. Maybe there’s some plan in mind of the team coaches and the individuals who are retired from the game need to be ignored! That’s how it might go.

But, Dada himself didn’t express any kind of emotions/feelings after failing to be bought in the recent IPL auctions. But, people close to him have expressed bewilderment at the franchises spuring the fighter. And, so did lash out Snehasish, Ganguly’s elder brother and once a reputed first class cricketer – “I am bewildered… surprised… sad. I have been thinking about this for the last 24 hours. When Sourav’s contemporaries like Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman can fetch good money, and many lesser known players are lapped up by the teams, how come no one raised any bid for him? I think KKR has made a mistake; Rs. 1.86 crore is no money when you take into account Sourav’s Stature, talent and experience. So they missed a chance to get him cheap!”

Snehasish also told that Gambhir and Ganguly could have been a dream opening pair! And he also thought that new teams like Pune Warriors and Kochi could have benefited from Sourav’s rich experience both as a batsman, bowler and as a skipper. When told that Ganguly’s personality would have made things difficult for Gambhir to is tipped KKR’s captain Snehasish said” He has played so well under many other skippers. May be they have a different strategy. Maybe the franchises are tempted to take in youngsters by ignoring a veteran like Sourav.” He even speculated that “Maybe his run is not good with Aussie coaches like Greg Chappel and John Buchanan.”

Well, whatever it is, but the thing remains “Dada is unsold”. I too found it quite abysmal and weird that contemporaries like Dravid and Laxman have been bought and he isn’t. And he is even a part-time bowler and was in great touch during the previous season with the bat! I reckon that all franchises found him too costly!

Tags: Bengal Tiger, Cricket, Dada, Indian Premier League, IPL, KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders, Snehasish, Sourav Ganguly