Sourav Ganguly refuses to comment on Dhoni's new IPL team
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly refused to make any statement regarding where Indian limited-overs captain MS Dhoni could land up in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) draft. Ganguly was speaking to the press earlier on Monday.
Ganguly did not want to make a comment on anything regarding the IPL draft for the two new franchises – Pune and Rajkot. When asked about whether Dhoni should be picked by Pune, he said, “Let the team owners decide that. I'm not involved.”
There have been rumours regarding Ganguly's involvement with the Pune franchise and that the former captain was on board with owner, Sanjiv Goenka. Goenka had last week clarified that the Pune franchise was wholly owned by him and that no one else was involved.
With Goenka being the co-owner of Atletico de Kolkata, along with Ganguly, many speculations regarding the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President's involvement with the new Pune franchise started making the news. It would have raised issues of Conflict of Interest as Ganguly is part of the IPL Governing Council.
“Sourav is not been involved, that's for sure. This is entirely mine. It's 100 percent owned by me. It's me and my group of companies. You all are being hypothetical that I'm going to rope in Sourav. We have not even thought about it.
“There has been no dialogue or discussion with Sourav whatsoever. I was generally speaking to him about cricket and he looked away. That was in the last football match. I was generally asking him, what do you think,” Goenka said.
When Goenka was asked about the possibility of Dhoni being bought by the Pune team, the owner chose to be diplomatic and did not reveal any details regarding their plans.
“MS Dhoni one of the finest and greatest leaders India has seen. We have not yet decided but very soon we'll decide. We have the first option of choosing the first player in the draft,” he said.
Ganguly also announced a partnership between CAB and Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals. CAB players and its affiliated clubs will be provided with healthcare support from Apollo in addition to being provided first-aid kits and stretchers.