Former President of the Board of Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly will return to the league as the Director of Cricket of the Delhi Capitals team from the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season starting in April. Sources associated with IPL confirmed this on Tuesday. The former captain of the Indian cricket team had resigned from the post of BCCI president in October. Apart from Delhi Capitals, he will look after the cricket related work of ILT20 team Dubai Capitals and South Africa’s T20 League team Pretoria Capitals associated with this franchise.
An IPL source aware of the matter told ‘PTI-Bhasha’ on the condition of confidentiality, “Yes, Sourav will make a comeback with Delhi Capitals from this year.” There has been a discussion about this between the franchisee and him. “The source said,” He has worked with this franchise, he has a good understanding with its owners. If he wants to work in IPL, he will always do it with Delhi Capitals. It could not be confirmed whether Ganguly would have any minority stake in the franchise, co-owned by the GMR and JSW groups.
Ganguly was the mentor of Delhi Capitals during his stint with the franchise in 2019. It is understood that the franchise followed the suggestion of both head coach Ricky Ponting and Ganguly in the recent auction. IPL franchise owners are now expanding their horizons and investing in franchise cricket from other countries. Franchises are looking for global roles for former veteran players.
This IPL source said, “If you look at Gautam Gambhir, he is handling the responsibility of Lucknow Super Giants and Durban Super Giants. Similarly, Mahela Jayawardene is serving MI Emirates and MI Cape Town apart from Mumbai Indians. These roles have now become more diverse due to foreign leagues. You won’t always be working with the same group of players. Ganguly and Ponting are known for their better understanding of cricket. But it will be interesting to see how the two help Delhi Capitals to be at their best in the IPL.
Finding a replacement for regular skipper Rishabh Pant will be a big challenge for both Ponting and Ganguly. Pant is almost ruled out of the upcoming season of IPL after being involved in a car accident last week. Pant can be replaced as captain but his ability to turn the tide of the match as a wicket-keeper batsman is second to none. Actually, Kona Bharat was released by Delhi Capitals who was bought by Gujarat Titans in the last auction. No top-class Indian wicketkeeper available with Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals), Ishan Kishan (Mumbai Indians), Wriddhiman Saha (Gujarat Titans), Upendra Yadav (Sunrisers Hyderabad), KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants). The only wicketkeeper option in the team is Phil Salt of England.
