Bengali media claims Sourav Ganguly will lead Pune in IPL5

Apart from being the team mentor, Dada may replace Yuvi as Pune warriors' skipper

A good news seems to be waiting for the countless Sourav Ganguly fans across the country who wants to see their favorite ‘dada’ back in action. Sourav will play for the Pune Warriors in the fifth season of the IPL and may even be given the responsibility to lead the side. A regional news paper in West Bengal has claimed that the former Indian captain is set to assume the role of a mentor-cum-captain in the Pune based IPL team.

The Bangali daily ‘Aajkal’ also reported that Sourav’s decisions regarding the Pune Warriors, both on and off the field, will be treated as final word. Sourav will replace Yuvraj Singh as the skipper and will also be responsible for the team selection.

However, no team official has confirmed about such a decision yet. We may hear the final word before the IPL 5 Players’ auction which is scheduled to be held on the 4th of February.

The Pune Warriors IPL team is owned by Sahara India. Last year, after being snubbed by all IPL teams at the IPL players’ auction, Sourav Ganguly was given a lifeline by Pune which hired Ganguly as a replacement player in the place of injured Asish Nehera towards the end of the tournament. However, the short stint (of 3 matches) didn’t prove to be very productive for Ganguly.

Back in August 2011, Pune team Director Abhijit Sarkar had talked about Ganguly being given a ‘bigger role’ in the team. After Geoff Marsh, team’s coach in the last season, resigned to join the Sri Lankan team as coach, it was widely speculated that India’s shrewdest captain Sourav Ganguly will be given the role of a mentor in the team. Since Marsh’s ouster, Pune has not announced the name of its new chief coach even though it recently named Paddy Upton as one of its support staffs.

To keep himself fit for the IPL action, Ganguly played the current season of Ranji Trophy for Bengal and scored 424 runs (including one century and two half centuries) in 9 innings at an average of 53.

Pune Warriors which finished the IPL 4 with ninth position among 10 teams will look to gain from Ganguly’s vast cricketing experience in the upcoming season.