Will Sourav Ganguly Do a Chris Gayle Against Kolkata Knight Riders on 19th of May?

It is perhaps a matter of time before Sourav Ganguly makes an appearance for the Pune Warriors. The question is: can he emulate his former team mate, Chris Gayle, at the the Kolkata Knight Riders to make their team pay for not retaining them for IPL 4?

sourav ganguly pune warriors

Although Sourav Ganguly was picked up by the Pune Warriors India, he was not played in the Pune Warriors v Mumbai Indians match that went the way of the latter. Ganguly was seen in the dug out, relaxing and in animated discussions with the rest of the team mates even as the Pune Warriors crashed to their seventh successive defeat in IPL 4.

Undoubtedly a few changes are on the cards with Yuvraj Singh, the Pune Warriors captain, virtually conceding that his team had no chance to make it to the final four. However, it would be a waste to have selected Sourav Ganguly as a replacement player and not even play him. Given the state of affairs, it only seems a matter of time before the Pune Warriors franchisee give the former Indian captain a go.

If Ganguly does become a permanent fixture for the Pune Warriors from this point on, and he should given the price at which the Warriors have sought him out after injury to Ashish Nehra, it should be an interesting battle when Pune Warriors meet Kolkata Knight Riders on the 19th of May.

However, while Chris Gayle did not hold back and in fact unleashed his full might in his first match for the Royal Challengers against the Kolkata Knight Riders, also his former team, with a stupendous IPL century, can Ganguly fashion a similarly impressive knock to give the Pune Warriors a shot in the arm and against a team where Shah Rukh Khan has been desperately used the unlicensed mascot despite letting him go at the IPL 4 auctions?

There are several similarities between Gayle and Ganguly in that they are both left handed batsmen, have captained their respective national teams, know the onus of burden as an opener and have both played for KKR and therefore not retained and remained unsold at the IPL 4 auctions. That has been enough to fire up Gayle when the first opportunity presented itself. Pune Warriors need something special from Ganguly, which perhaps why Dada's fans are also anticipating a special by shifting loyalties. Now can Ganguly deliver when given the opportunity? This is the pressure before him.