Pune emerge as losers in Ganguly spat

What’s worse than a team losing seven consecutive matches and then sacking their captain, after they are effectively out of the tournament? A team for whom, despite an embarrassing run of defeats dating back to April 24, their on-field performance is only part of a bigger problem?

A day before he was ‘rested’ by the Pune Warriors team management in their 35-run loss to Royal Challengers, Sourav Ganguly had categorically stated that he would remain captain for Pune Warriors.

The team management had brainstormed with franchise officials on the same day and blamed Ganguly for the team’s debacle. Ganguly had made a blunder, by dropping Jesse Ryder, Samuels and thereby thinking that he can win matches for his side single-handedly.

Sourav Ganguly was not upto the mark as captain. The players who had won matches for Pune Warriors were rested for the rest of the matches. The likes of Ferguson and Ryder who are capable of doing it was not seen from the match No.4 of the Pune Warriors.

Moreover, Ganguly thought that, after his success with the bat in the first couple of matches, he can win games for Pune Warriors single-handedly as they lack players who can finish matches.

But Pune Warriors owner made it clear that this would be the last year for Ganguly and he won’t be playing any more cricket for Pune Warriors India. Ganguly, who hasn’t played cricket for a year, found it tough for him as consistency matters a lot in the IPL. His team selection was poor as he had not retained the match-winning players and kept shuffling the team in every game.

On Saturday, when Aussie all-rounder, Steven Smith, was handed over the skipper’s cap, said at the toss Ganguly had rested himself, but later clarified at the match, that he won’t be playing the next three matches. Smith told the media: “Sourav told me that he’ll be resting himself for the next game”.

“To be honest I’m not sure whose decision was it. All I know that Sourav came up to me and said that I’ll have to captain the next couple of matches. I guess Clarke was the first choice, but he’s got some personal stuff at home that he has to attend to”, he added.

Smith was an obvious choice for captain, given that he had been the only consistent performer for the side. Moreover, he had also led Sydney Sixers to title win in the Big Bash earlier this year.

Smith did a wonderful job as captain by shuffling his bowlers and thereby not allowing the batsmen to settle. But he couldn’t find support from his bowlers and batsmen.