Kochi IPL team hunting for ‘Bengal tiger’?

KOCHI: Having fallen short of a top-class Indian batsman after the players’ auction for Season IV of the Indian Premier League, the Kochi IPL franchise is keen to sign former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.

Although Ganguly was unsold at the players’ auction held earlier this month at Bangalore, it is learnt the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has no objection to ‘Dada’ joining the IPL bandwagon again.

“The Kochi team has made a move to acquire Sourav Ganguly,” a Kerala Cricket Association official close to the franchise owners told Express on Friday.” The IPL governing council has informed the Kochi team that they can sign Ganguly if the other IPL teams have no objection. But it is still very early to say whether Ganguly would play for Kochi or not.” The 38-year-old, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first three editions of the high-profile T-20 competition, was unable to find a bidder despite two rounds under the hammer, along with Punjab medim pacer V R V Singh and Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer.

Kerala representative and co-owner of Kochi Cricket Private Ltd Vivek Venugopal was unavailable for comment while Dhaval Shah, another franchise partner, refused to speak on the issue.

The IPL rules state that capped Indian players can be signed only via auction.

However, the BCCI is reportedly in favour of letting the three unsold former Indian internationals play in this year’s IPL slated to begin on April 8.

Only three franchises, Kochi, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab, who have some amount left of the $9 million spending cap, stand a chance of signing these players, sources said.

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