Sourav Ganguly to join Pune Warriors India for IPL 4

NEW DELHI: Former Indian and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly, who went unsold in IPL auction, will finally play in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League.

Bengal tiger will play for the new inclusion of this edition Pune Warriors India.

Ganguly is expected to replace injured Ashish Nehra and will join the Pune team in Wednesday's game against Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil stadium.

Abhijit Sarkar, director of Pune Warriors said, "We were waiting for the report of Ashish Nehra. Meanwhile, we were in talks with Ganguly. Once the report came, we requested Dada to join our team and he has agreed to do so. We were looking at the kind of experience Ganguly has and we are hopeful he make a difference."

Earlier, IPL clears Pune Warriors application to allow Ganguly to play in the lucrative league.

Ganguly's base price was $400,000 and went unsold in the IPL auction held in January.

toi

Sreesanth has toned down a bit, says Jayawardene

NEW DELHI: S Sreesanth may have irked Mahendra Singh Dhoni on quite a few occasions with his on-field antics, but Kochi Tuskers Kerala skipper Mahela Jayawardene is at ease with his behaviour so far in the IPL, and said the temperamental pacer sometimes need to be left to his aggressive self.

"Honestly, he (Sreesanth) has been ok. He has toned down a bit. We did not play him in a few games because of conditions but he bowled brilliantly in the last two games. Sometimes, you need to leave him to be a little aggressive and at times you need to talk to him," Jayawardene said of the maverick Kerala pacer after his side's seven-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Monday.

With this win, Kochi jumped up to the sixth position in the table with eight points from nine games, and Jayawardene hoped this victory brings some consistency in his side's performance.

"We would love to have that consistency in Twenty20 but if you see we have lost some games in the last two overs. Hopefully, with this win we can get some momentum," the Sri Lankan said.

After playing their last match on a low and slow Nehru Stadium pitch at home, he heaped praise on the Kotla track.

"The Kochi wicket was tough for us inspite of being the home team. But this was a good wicket. We thought 160 was a par score."

Jayawardene also lauded his bowlers for restricting Daredevils to a mediocre 140 for six on a batsmen-friendly wicket.

"Our guys bowled to a good plan which we couldn't do in Kochi."

The Kochi skipper said his counterpart Virender Sehwag's early dismissal was vital to his side's fortune on Monday.

He also praised left-arm pacer Prasanth Parameswaran (2/29) for his impressive performance on debut, which includes the vital wicket of Sehwag.

"Credit to Prasanth. He bowled a good angle to Viru. It was a gamble I took (and) that paid off. We knew we need to get him (Sehwag) early," Jayawardene said.

toi