Sourav Ganguly’s IPL 4 dream go up in smoke

Sourav Ganguly’s faint hopes of playing in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) were finally dashed when the governing council did not make him available for sale on Friday. The former India skipper was left unsold during the two- day IPL auction in Bangalore last month, which resulted in a lot of hue and cry, especially in his home city of Kolkata.

However, it was believed that Team Kochi had evinced interest to avail Ganguly’s services at his base price, as they found that they were lacking in Indian batsmen in their squad after the auction. The franchise had approached the governing council in order to sign the left- hander up, but their plans came a cropper as other franchisees objected to the move.

According to the rules governing the IPL, all other franchisees had to give their assent. It is believed that at least three teams objected to a back- door entry for the Bengal stalwart. Other players such as Wasim Jaffer, VRV Singh, Brian Lara and Chris Gayle also went unsold in the auction. Ganguly had doubled his base price to $ 400,000 just days before the auction, much to everybody’s surprise. There were murmurs that he may not find bidders.

“ Based on the views from franchisees, IPL governing council decided not to make available the unsold Indian players from the auction,” a press release after the meeting said.

“ We had received a request from one franchise (Kochi) that Ganguly should be allowed to be purchased outside the auction and rejected it after objections were raised by some other franchisees,” IPL chairman Chirayu Amin said. The governing council also slapped a four- match ban on young batsman Manish Pandey for breach of guidelines.

“ Based on the complaints from franchisees and after meeting with the player, IPL governing council has imposed a four IPL match ban on Manish Pandey. He cannot play the first four matches of IPL Season - 4,” the release said. However, “ as desired by him, he is permitted to play for the Pune franchise,” it added.

The youngster, the first Indian to score a century in the twenty20 tournament, had refused to sign a contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore, for whom he had played for the first three seasons. “ Pandey's agent was negotiating with a number of franchisees,” Amin said. The governing council also rejected complaints from Mumbai Indians, who said that the auction was not carried out in a clear and transparent manner.

“ As regards the letter from M/s. India Win Sports Private Limited (Mumbai Indians) regarding the recent IPL auction, the governing council was briefed by the operational team, including IMG, on all aspects of the letter,” the release said.

The procedure followed in this year’s auction is exactly the same as was done in all the previous IPL auctions. Representatives of all franchisees had read the auction briefing note prepared by IMG which included the changes referred to and signed the same in acceptance before the auction including the India Win Sports Private Limited (Mumbai Indians),” it added.

“ The governing council reiterates that the auction was transparent and fair.”