Ganguly back in IPL. To play for Pune
In a move that could lift the dangling fortunes of Pune Warriors, Sourav Ganguly is all set to make the famous IPL comeback his fans have been demanding. Pune Warriors have confirmed they have roped in Dada as a replacement for the injured Ashish Nehra. The ‘Bengal Tiger’ could in action as early as tomorrow and against Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians
Nehra was injured during the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup, which India won against Pakistan and has been out of action ever since. The medical reports confirmed he won't be available for some more time as the healing process wasn't complete yet.
Following that, Pune made a request application to IPL Governing Council to formally pave the way for Ganguly's inclusion. The 'Bengal Tiger'is now expected to join the Pune Warriors later tonight for their next game against Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil stadium tomorrow evening.
Sarkar was quoted in Times Now as saying, ""We were waiting for the report of Ashish Nehra. Meanwhile, we were in talks with Ganguly. Once the report came, we requested Dada to join our team and he has agreed to do so. We were looking at the kind of experience Ganguly has and we are hopeful he make a difference."
After a promising start to their maiden IPL campaign, Pune slid down the barrel in dramatic fashion and are now in serious trouble, placed at the bottom of the table. They have won only two games out of eight and are seriously looking for some inspiration. It remains to be seen if that inspiration comes in from the man who had once inspired a massive turnaround in Indian national side.
It may be recalled that Ganguly had gone unsold during the January IPL auctions. He had a base price of $ 400000. Earlier in April, another unsold player, Chris Gayle made an IPL comeback when he was brought in by RCB.
It may be recalled that barely a couple of days ago, many fans of Ganguly had even attempted to storm into Eden Gardens and demand the inclusion of their hero into the KKR squad. A group of about 40-odd die-hard fans is planning to enter the Eden Gardens during the Kolkata Knight Riders-Kings XI Punjab IPL match on Saturday, protesting the absence of Sourav Ganguly from the home squad.
This despite the fact that the Indian Premier League has already entered its halfway stage. Fibbed into believing that their hero may still make it to the IPL, thanks to the endless speculations in the media, a group called "No Dada, No KKR" has been actively campaigning for Ganguly's return to the Knight Riders squad.
The former India skipper went unsold in the January auction, but those associated with this group are yet to come to terms with the fact that their hero is no more a part of the KKR squad.
Ever since Ganguly's ouster from the KKR team, the group has been asking people to boycott Eden Gardens during the IPL.
"We have distributed 1,00,000 leaflets along with the weekend newspapers on 26th and 27th March. We saw an unprecedented low turnout for the first match. For the following matches we launched sms campaign wherein we sent more than 6,00,000 sms-es to people in Kolkata. We have shown our dislike for IPL by staying away.
"It's time we went in and showed the same. Dada fans would be going to Eden wearing the cric tees t-shirts, with dada banners, posters and pics. We hope to catch the attention of the entire media and make our message reach to a larger audience. We also expect to get support from those inside the ground," said an active member of the group.
In fact in Hyderabad, some of the group members bought tickets originally priced at Rs 1,500, for Rs 2,500, just to convey their grievances.
Arun Raghvan, who runs the largest fan page on Ganguly on Facebook said, "Judging by the interactions that I have with over one lakh Ganguly fans on facebook, I can surely say that they are very disappointed with dada's exclusion and don't follow the IPL keenly anymore.
"They (Ganguly's fans on the net) are even more upset as every now and then news comes in that Sourav may be back in this IPL but soon the rumours are rubbished. In fact, some of them have even begun a year-long wait for the next IPL though they aren't sure if he is willing to participate in the tournament's next season."
