Ganguly ended up missing his domestic side Bengal’s quarter-final match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Baroda due to the same injury, which led to speculations over his appearance in the 5th season of India’s premier domestic Twenty20 competition, the IPL.
The left-handed batsman will be leading the Sahara Pune Warriors in the upcoming season of the high voltage tournament. Ganguly’s appointment as the team’s skipper came after Yuvraj Singh, who was leading the side, was diagnosed with a non-malignant tumor in his lungs, and took time off for treatment. Ganguly had earlier played for the same franchise last year, joining them mid-campaign, under the captaincy of Yuvraj.
The Pune franchise finished the last season on a disappointing note, coming in 2nd last on the points table, above Delhi Daredevils, with only 4 wins from a total of 14 matches. Ganguly’s captaincy is expected to serve the side well in their coming outing.
"We need someone who can motivate the team. And Ganguly is active as a player and he can perform the leadership duties better than someone sitting on the bench outside the field," said an official of the Sahara group, owners of the Pune franchise.
The franchise had faced a setback earlier, when James Hopes, the Aussie all-rounder whom the side had acquired last month from the Delhi Daredevils, was ruled out of contention due to a knee injury. With Hopes out, the Pune Warriors get to choose two overseas players for this season.
The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League is slated to being from the 4th of April, 2012, where the defending champions, Chennai Super Kings, will take up the Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians to kick-off the tournament. All of the usual franchises will be competing for the title this time around, expect for the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, who were terminated from the IPL owing to breach of terms.
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