After going unsold in the players' public sale, Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday made a theatrical return to the IPL by signing up for Pune Warriors as substitute for Ashish Nehra.We were to come for Ashish Nehra's fitness report and in the end the report came on Monday. I was already in talks with Ganguly and we determined that the amount of knowledge that Sourav has in cricket will no doubt help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night,Pune Warriors Team Director Abhijit Sarkar said referring to the finger injury that Nehra has been nursing.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders for three IPL season captain them in two editions, went unsold in the January players' auction despite a quite modest base price of 400,000 US dollars. The 38-year-old refused a mentor's role with KKR after that and there had been guess of a possible comeback through another franchise.
The left-handed batman was first required by Kochi Tuskers Kerala but their request was rejected by the IPL's Governing Council. However, he signed on the dotted line for Pune on Monday, giving a major fillip to the side which has lost six matches on the trot after starting favorably with a couple of back-to-back wins.
The IPL governing council had allowable Ganguly to play after the Pune permit sent an application on Monday for his sign.They (Pune Warriors) approached me on Monday and I have established it,said Ganguly after he was signed by Pune.Pune Warriors have lost six matches in the IPL this year.