South African legend AB de Villiers has revealed that he was priorhandedly aware of former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly’s appointment as the head coach of the Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 league.
Former players taking up coaching and mentorship roles across franchises in different global T20 leagues has been a regular sight in modern cricket. Several former players like Ricky Ponting, Kevin Pietersen, Gautam Gambhir, and Brendon McCullum have been seen in such roles.
Sourav Ganguly is one of the most celebrated players to have played the sport, as he was arguably said to be the craftsman behind India’s strong playing XI across formats during his captaincy days. He has also adapted to a new coaching role, but it’s not in India.
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Sourav Ganguly signs as Head Coach for Pretoria Capitals
Recently, the Pretoria Capitals, the South African SA20-based franchise, announced Sourav Ganguly as their head coach for the upcoming season in the competition. However, the legendary South African batter AB de Villiers has claimed to have known this long back.
The former BCCI President will be seen in the role of a head coach for the first time in his career. He has previously held the post of Director of Cricket in the IPL for Delhi Capitals. Hence, this is the first time he has taken up such a role.
Ganguly has the task of reviving the fortunes of the Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 league, as they have not had the best of the first three seasons. He started off his stint with a huge bid for Dewald Brevis, the Protea star currently setting the T20 stage on fire.
AB de Villiers claims to have known about Ganguly’s appointment beforehand
While speaking on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers mentions he knew about Ganguly’s appointment as the head coach around three weeks before the world knew about this.
“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 AB de Villiers on his YT channel.
“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.
ABD’s humble plea for Indian players to feature in SA20
The South African great led the Proteas to the semi-finals of the 2015 ICC World Cup before their campaign met a tragic end. He has been a much-loved figure across several international platforms and has urged Indian players not contracted with the BCCI to consider taking up some cricket in the SA20.
Even Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired recently from the IPL, applied 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,” stated AB de Villiers.
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