Pune: Sourav Ganguly will no longer be the captain of Pune Warriors in Indian Premier League and will serve only as the team’s mentor, putting an end to intense speculation over the struggling batsman’s fate following a string of poor results.
Ganguly’s future role in the team was spelt out by franchise owner Subrata Roy who said that the veteran batsman wants to remain in the team as mentor only.
“Sourav will be the mentor next season. We rather pushed him to play in IPL 5 as he is such a fantastic captain,” Roy said.
The Warriors are already out of the race for the play-offs berth and Roy said Ganguly would like to sit out the team’s last three matches for the youngsters’ sake.
“Sourav wants to give youngsters a chance in the last games,” Roy said.
Ganguly has been under the scanner for his failure as a batsman in the current edition of IPL while the team’s below-par show has also put a question mark on his waning leadership skills. Pune have lost nine of their 13 matches in the league so far.
“I did not want to be the captain but was asked to do so. Now I want to give chance to youngsters,” Ganguly said.
Gaungly was appointed skipper after Yuvraj Singh, currently recuperating from a rare germ cell cancer, was ruled out due to health issues.
After a decent start, Ganguly has gone through a lean patch both as a batsman and skipper and his captaincy of late has been a subject of speculation.
Roy, however, came to the left-hander’s defence.
“Ganguly is a fine captain, our team lacked good Indian talent,” the owner said.
Team sources had earlier told PTI that the management wants the former India captain to take a call on his future in the remaining three matches.
“If Ganguly himself offers to step down from captaincy and decides to sit out for the remaining three games, the owners will certainly be only too happy to accomodate. The general feeling is that, they have lost with Ganguly at helm and with new players, it can’t get worse,” a senior IPL official in the know of things said.
With Ganguly out of the reckoning, there is a possibility that either Aussie Michael Clarke or find-of-the-season Steve Smith would lead the side. (PTI)