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Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers is ecstatic about Sourav Ganguly joining Pretoria Capitals as the head coach for the upcoming edition of the SA20. The former India captain and BCCI President hit the ground running in the auction on Tuesday, as the team brought Dewald Brevis on board for a record sum of R16,500,000 (INR 8.20 crore). This is the first time that Ganguly will hold the position of a head coach across any competition in the world.
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Ganguly has previously held the post of Director of Cricket in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Delhi Capitals, but it would be interesting to see how he goes about his business as the head coach. Pretoria Capitals have failed to live up to the billing in the first three editions of the tournament, and Ganguly has his task cut out.
While speaking on his YouTube channel, de Villiers revealed that he knew about Ganguly’s appointment three weeks before the world, but he kept his cards close to his chest because of his private conversations with the former India captain.
“He will be joining forces with the Pretoria Capitals, which is my home team. By the way, just between us, I knew about this about three weeks ago already, so it’s not news to me because I spoke to Dada privately about some private stuff, which I’m not going to share here,” said de Villiers.
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“But I did know way in advance that the Pretoria Capitals would be coached by him. It’s fantastic for us, but unfortunately, no Indian players in the final auction, which is very disappointing for me,” he added.
de Villiers’ request to former India players
The former South Africa captain, who led the Proteas into the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup, also appealed to the former Indian cricketers to put their names up for the SA20, as this will only increase the interest in the competition.
No Indian players were shortlisted for the final mega auction list. Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently retired from the IPL, also put his name up for the ILT20 instead of the SA20.
“I really hope we can start breaking down those chains and the shackles of the Indian players not taking part in the SA20. Please, my Indian friends, former players, obviously guys who are not contracted by the BCCI, put your names in the hat and come and play a bit of cricket in South Africa,” said de Villiers.
“What a fantastic tournament the SA20 is, and I love being a part of it,” he added.
Speaking of the Pretoria Capitals, the franchise will have the likes of Andre Russell, Keshav Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi in their squad as they look to win their maiden SA20 title.
Pretoria Capitals squad: Andre Russell, Will Jacks, Sherfane Rutherford, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Dewald Brevis, Lizaad Williams, Craig Overton, Saqib Mahmood, Codi Yusuf, Connor Esterhuizen, Bryce Parsons, Gideon Peters, Junaid Dawood, Will Smeed, Meeka-eel Prince, Bayanda Majola, Wihan Lubbe, Sibonelo Makhanya.
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