Kolkata hails Ganguly's possible reappointment as KKR skipper while Buchanan gets more stick
Kolkatau00a0hails Ganguly'su00a0possible reappointment as KKR skipper while Buchanan gets more stick
Unconfirmed news of Sourav Ganguly regaining the Kolkata Knight Riders captaincy for Season Three of the Indian Premier League has attracted all-round approval among the cricketing fraternity of Kolkata. The decision to appoint Brendon McCullum as captain for the last IPL was looked upon as sheer humiliation for the former India skipper, who led KKR in the first season.
Gopal Bose, who toured England with Ajit Wadekar's team in 1974, felt that justice had been done to a proven skipper. "Losing the captaincy was a bitter pill to swallow for Ganguly.
Equation balanced"Now, the equation has been balanced. If there is one real cricket leader in the country, it is Ganguly. Every time he has been cornered, he has delivered and with the possibility of John Wright coming in as coach, at least the dressing room will be a happy one."
Another Bose Ranadeb felt that team owner Shah Rukh Khan would have to make it very clear as to who the boss is. "If Ganguly plays, he will have to lead. The Indian team enjoyed success with the Ganguly-Wright combination. So, it will only have a good effect on the team," said Ranadeb, who has yet to play international cricket despite his fine performances on the domestic circuit.
He was a Knight Rider in Season One and was part of the Kings XI Punjab outfit this year. Ranadeb had lashed out the KKR think-tank for not playing him in 2008.
Tough talk "I can't speak for others, but I haven't gained anything from this experience. I did absolutely nothing all these days. To learn something, you need to play. The question of taking positives doesn't arise," he said and added that coach John Buchanan was "always busy with the main squad and didn't have much interaction with the reserves."
Former national selector Sambaran Banerjee believed that Buchanan was "the root of all evil" and his possible successoru00a0 Wright will have the challenge of getting the best out of Ganguly. Meanwhile, former international Utpal Chatterjee stressed on Ganguly's task of keeping himself in fine fettle until the next IPL comes along.
"The third edition of the IPL will be played next year which is a long way off. Sourav's challenge will be to keep himself well oiled. It's always difficult for a batsman to just come out and deliver," Chatterjee said.
