Former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly set to join Delhi Capitals as Director of Cricket
New Delhi (PTI): Former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly will be returning to the IPL as Director of Cricket with the Delhi Capitals in the upcoming edition, sources close to the development said on Tuesday.
The former India captain, who stepped down from the BCCI president's post in October, will also oversee all the cricket verticals of the franchise along with the ILT20 team Dubai Capitals and the SA T20 league side Pretoria Capitals.
"Yes, Sourav will be back with Delhi Capitals from this year. The discussions and modalities are over. He has worked with the franchise, shares a good comfort level with owners and if he would have worked in IPL, it would have always been with DC," an IPL source tracking the developments told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
It couldn't be confirmed whether Ganguly will have any minority stake in the franchise co-owned by GMR and JSW groups.
Ganguly was the mentor of Delhi Capitals during his stint with the franchise in 2019.
It is understood that Delhi Capitals' recent auction picks had both head coach Ricky Ponting and Ganguly's footprints.
The IPL franchise owners, with their diversification, are now looking at global roles for all big names who are associated with the respective franchises.
"If you look at Gautam Gambhir with Lucknow Super Giants and Durban Super Giants and Mahela Jayawardena with MI Emirates and MI Cape Town along with Mumbai Indians, the roles are becoming diverse as in foreign leagues, you aren't often dealing with same set of players," the IPL source added.
Ganguly and Ponting are two of the sharpest cricket brains but it will be interesting to see how the two collaborate in bringing about optimum performance from Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
It will be a big challenge for both Ponting and Ganguly with regular skipper Rishabh Pant all but out of IPL after his horrifying car accident last week.
Pant the skipper is replaceable but Pant the batter-keeper remains one of the biggest game-changers despite his underwhelming T20 performance.
In fact, Delhi Capitals had released Kona Bharat, who was picked at the last auction by Gujarat Titans.
None of the top line Indian white-ball wicket-keepers are available, with Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals), Ishan Kishan (MI), Wriddhiman Saha (GT), Upendra Yadav (SRH), KL Rahul (LSG) being already taken by one franchise or the other.
As of now, the only other available skipper in the squad is Englishman Phil Salt.
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Two West Bengal SIR poll officials enter Odisha village ‘mistakenly’; 72 locals held for assaulting
Balasore: At least 72 people, including 23 women, from Rajnagar village in the district have been arrested under charge of assaulting two poll officials from West Bengal, who are suspected to have mistakenly entered their village on Wednesday.
Odisha Police are learned to have said that poll officers Sumit Hazra and Som Hansda, who are bank employees, had been assigned the duty of supervisiing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise at Baliagaria Block under the Nayagram Police Station limits in West Bengal. On Wednesday, however, the duo mistakenly entered the nearby Rajnagar, located under the Raibania Police Station limits in Balasore district, they added.
According to news agencies, Balasore Additional Superintendent of Police Niranjan Behera has said that the returning officers were detained and assaulted by the villagers on account of communication gap. Explaining the incident further, the officer said that Hazra and Hansda approached an auto rickshaw that was on school duty as they were unable to get any other transportation facility to reach Nayagram. “As the rickshaw driver declined to help, they were waiting for an alternate means of transportation, when a rumour was spread that child lifters were working in the area. This gave rise to suspicion among the villagers and led to the assault of Hazra and Hansda,” Behera is learned to have said.
Further, the Addl SP has said that the villagers are learned to have assaulted and detained two police personnel from Raibania Police Station who rushed to Rajnagar to rescue the returning officers. “Additional forces were sent to the village, even as senior police and administrative officers visited Rajnagar to bring the situation under control,” he reportedly added.
Behera also said, “The injured poll officials, after being rescued, were admitted to the local hospital for treatment. Two cases are registered in this regard, one by the poll officials and another by police. More than 100 people have been questioned.”
The investigation team, after verifying the video footage, has held 72 accused, who will be produced before court. Additional security forces have been mobilized in the Raibania Police Station limits to prevent any untoward situation, officials have said.
