Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly – the old warhorse of Indian cricket and the ex – captain of Kolkata Knight Riders is the new recruitment to the Pune warriors’ team. He will make the playing XI from tomorrow. It comes as a welcome and shocking surprise to the entire cricketing fraternity. He replaces Asish Nehra who is injured and is ruled out of IPL for this season. Ganguly was not sold in the auctions that held in January (base price of $ 400,000) and there were too many speculations on which team he will support or play in this IPL.

Kochi Kerala was also planning to rope in Ganguly, after Jayewardene’s tenure as captain in mid May. SriLanka will tour England from mid May and thus there was an order from the SL board to replace the Kochi captain. The owners and the coach Geoff Lawson were planning to recruit Ganguly to their team but now it comes as a bolt from the blue that he is being signed in by Pune Warriors.

Ganguly – a welcome addition to any side will have the job on his hand to stem the losing rot of the side. Pune has lost 6 games on the trot though most games went the distance. Pune, though boast of good international bowlers lack the batting at the top order, thanks to the injury to Smith, who is a proven opener. Thus it comes as welcome news as Ganguly will open the innings with Ryder. Ganguly will add the much needed stability to the top order and will always like to play throughout the innings much like Sachin and Dravid and he would ideally want others to play around him.

The experience that Ganguly will bring to the table is invaluable and priceless. He is a proven player in IPL and his performance speaks for himself. The Indian contingent in the team is not up to the mark as Manhas and Monish are not proving their mettle. Ganguly, the wounded tiger was ideally waiting for a chance to prove his essence in the IPL. He will also guide the captain Yuvraj who has grown to this stature from the Ganguly era and hence the entire team will benefit tactically from his inclusion.

It will be interesting to see whether the inclusion of the “DADA of cricket” will turn the winning tide in favour of Pune and help the team to win from the bottom. It will be good to see Ganguly leading the team too!

Welcome DADA, Let the winning season begin!!

Tags: Dada, Essence, IPL, Pune Warriors India, PWI, Sourav Ganguly, Wounded Tiger