File photo of Sourav Ganguly© BCCI
Delhi Capitals parted ways with head coach Ricky Ponting in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the franchise confirmed on Saturday. Ponting was appointed head coach of Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) in 2018 but during his seven-year tenure, the franchise was unable to win the IPL title even once. With Ponting not longer with the franchise and the mega auction taking place, Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly has emerged as one of the front-runners for the job. In a recent interaction, Ganguly was asked whether he will be becoming the next DC head coach and he had an explosive reply.
“I have to plan for next year’s IPL. I want to win the IPL for Delhi Capitals once. The mega auction is next year, and hence I have started planning from now on. Geoffrey Boycott was right, as Ponting has not been able to take the franchise forward in the past 7 years. I have to speak with the franchise and ask them to look at Indian coaches,” Ganguly said in an interview with Bengali newspaper Aajkal.
When asked about who can replace Ponting as the next Delhi Capitals head coach, Ganguly dropped a massive hint as he said that there is a chance that he can take up the coaching responsibilities.
“I will be the head coach. Let’s see how I perform. Will need to recruit some new players,” he said.
Praveen Amre, the hardworking assistant coach, is set to continue.
The DC co-owners – JSW and GMR group – are scheduled to have a meeting either at the end of this month or early next month to discuss the road ahead.
The players’ retention is another issue that will be up for discussion and if the number stays at four, then DC will have to let go either Australia’s Jake-Fraser McGurk or South Africa’s Tristan Stubbs with only one overseas slot available.
As far as the Indian core is concerned, the retention choices are pretty straight forward as skipper Rishabh Pant, all-rounder Axar Patel and wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav lead that chart.
A mega auction is on cards ahead of the IPL 2025, and there is every possibility that a few retainable stars from each franchise would want to enter the auction pool to check their real market rates.
(With PTI inputs)
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