Ganguly makes an IPL comeback, set to play for Pune

So here’s the news that the entire cricket arena was waiting for! Sourav Ganguly is penciled in as the replacement for an injured Ashish Nehra in the Pune Warriors squad.

"I'm Back": Sourav Ganguly is penciled in as the replacement for an injured Ashish Nehra in the Pune Warriors squad

The announcement came on Tuesday morning following the inference that Nehra will remain unfit for the rest of the tournament.

Nehra had fractured one of the fingers in his right hand in the semifinal game against Pakistan and the injury kept him out of the cricket field for more than a month.

In Sourav Ganguly’s case, it surprised many when no hands went up when his name was pronounced, when the Indian Premier League auction for the 2011 season was in progress (January 8-9).

The Kolkata Knight Riders later tried to rope him for a mentor role, which Ganguly turned down.

In the last few weeks, there have been a lot of speculations about the Kochi Tuskers trying to rope him as a replacement for its skipper Mahela Jayawardane, who is expected to leave the squad shortly.

“We were waiting for Ashish Nehra’s fitness report and ultimately the report came yesterday. I was already in talks with Ganguly and we decided that the amount of experience that Sourav has in cricket will no doubt help the team. So we finalized Ganguly last night,” the Pune Warriors Team Director Abhijit Sarkar said this morning.

Meanwhile the news has sprung as a surprise not only to cricket fans but to all the franchises which cold-shouldered Ganguly.

The Pune Warriors are now staying rooted to the bottom of the IPL points table. With the inclusion of Sourav Ganguly, the Pune Warriors will be hoping for a turnaround.

So does this mean a change in the leadership?