Pune: The buzz was doing the rounds about Sourav Ganguly's retirement plans after ongoing edition of the IPL, but the sudden ouster of the Prince of Kolkata from the PWI between the tournament has astonished teammates and fans equally.
The 'Bengal Tiger' has been a part of Pune Warriors since IPL 4 and team owner Subrata Roy Sahara could have chosen a more respectful occasion for Dada's exit.
Here's a look at five reasons which might have prompted the team management to dump Ganguly even without waiting for this season to culminate.
Here's a look at five reasons which might have prompted the team management to dump Ganguly even without waiting for this season to culminate.
1. Mediocre performance: With 261 runs from 13 games at a strike-rate of just over 100 and fielding, which is at least a few notches below the standard set in a competition like IPL, the soon-to-be-40 Ganguly struggled to keep fit himself to the demands of the shortest version of the game.
Above all, Dada's killing instinct and leadership quality, for which he is known, was also missing throughout the season. This was probably one of the reasons, why he was hired for the skipper's job in PWI.
2. Team selection: Some of the decisions made by Ganguly that came under scanner include Bangladeshi opener Tamim Iqbal not getting a single game, despite being the top-scorer during Asia Cup with four back-to-back fifties. T20 specialist Alphonso Thomas was repeatedly ignored against West Indian Marlon Samuels, who did precious little with the bat or ball after the first three games.
3. Resenting domestic players: Rahul Sharma got dumped after being hammered for five consecutive sixes, but the feeling among the domestic players was how and why the likes of Rahul and Manish Pandey were getting repeatedly ignored to favour the likes of Mithun Manhas, who is not known to finish off games.
4. Eden Gardens debacle: Things were going fine for Ganguly as PWI skipper before team's collapse in the most- hyped clash of the tournament on May 5. Sourav came under criticism for not staying till the end and guiding the team to victory. Notably, Ganguly's departure turned course of the game and Pune was routed by seven runs in a close contest with KKR.
4. Eden Gardens debacle: Things were going fine for Ganguly as PWI skipper before team's collapse in the most- hyped clash of the tournament on May 5. Sourav came under criticism for not staying till the end and guiding the team to victory. Notably, Ganguly's departure turned course of the game and Pune was routed by seven runs in a close contest with KKR.
5. Giving opportunity to the young talent: Ganguly's continous failure in the high octane tournament might have forced PWI management to bring in young talents instead of carrying the ageing 'Bengal tiger', who has lost his ferociousness and hunting prowess.
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