Strong Reaction from fans after IPL snub to Ganguly

Fans stand by Dada

The great IPL Bazaar is over. The auction for players for IPL season 4 made news all over India both for the players who got bought with astronomical price tags and also for the players who found no takers. Prominent of the ‘UNSOLD’ players was former India captain and undoubtedly one of the finest cricketer India has ever seen Sourav Ganguly. His case was unique as no IPL team placed a bid for him during the auction and the re-auction even after his performances in last seasons of IPL. While the ‘prince of Kolkata’ was the highest run-getter for the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 1 and 2, he was also the 4th highest scorer in IPL 3 with 493 runs with an average of around 37. Not just that, his catching and fielding in last season were clear indication of the effort he had put to perform better to win IPL for KKR. (His catch was nominated for best IPL catch last season in IPL awards). Even an extreme Ganguly baiter wouldn’t have expected no teams picking Sourav in their teams. The non-inclusion was bound to have shaken ground among the cricket lovers.

As soon as the news of no bids even in the re-auction for their beloved Dada came out, the fans in Kolkata started protesting. Effigies of team owner Sharukh Khan were burned. Protests in several places of Kolkata were reported. Shouts of empty eden garden during IPL and Anti-Sharukh sentiments were prominent among fans. The message was loud, you can’t insult the son of the land in such a humiliating way. The team KKR may have to face bitter situations ahead as many fear of depletion in its fan base. In fact, a survey by Hindustan Times has revealed that at least 54% of Kolkata fans may not support KKR in the next season.

The internet forums were abuzz with support for the ‘best captain of Team India’. ‘Saurav Ganguly‘ is one of the trending topics in India on twitter(most talked topic) since yesterday. A search would reveal that most of the tweets(messages posted on twitter) are sympathetic to Sourav Ganguly. Some tweets reads like this:

You can take DADA out of cricket, but you can’t take cricket out of DADA

A million dollars for Rohit Sharma. SauravGanguly has been grievously wronged.

To whomsoever it may concern “saurav ganguly aka dada” doesnt need any certificate frm u to prove his worth most imp After #sachin for india

Even though I’m not a big fan of Saurav as a batsman but I prefer him as Captain.. Feel pity & sad for his absence in #IPL. #Ganguly

Facebook Fan Pages of Saurav Ganguly are also busy with fans posting messages in support of Saurav.

No Dada, No IPL campaign by fans

Many new pages like ‘No Dada, No IPL’, ‘No Sourav Ganguly-So no to IPL 4′, ‘No Dada, No Eden’ etc. were started and hundreds of fans were the member of such pages within a few hours. SMS campaigns in support of Ganguly has already started with one of the message reads:

I am Kolkata and I don’t play without Saurav Ganguly

Being one of the greatest cricketers of India, Sourav Ganguly has several well wishers, admirers and fans. They seems to have miffed with such a decision by the KKR and other teams. The team management of Kolkata Knightriders also seems to have taken note as the principal owner of the team Sharukh Khan was seen to have pacify the angry fans with his ‘promise’ to “bring Dada on board”. Will such move pacify the fans? Do you think a legend was insulted in the auction? Post your views in comments section.