IPL 4: Kolkata let Sourav Ganguly go
With a week left for franchisees to choose players for IPL 4, two names to be ignored by their respective teams are Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.
A report in the Times of India states that Knight Riders have decided to drop Kolkata's prodigal son to revamp the entire side. More importantly, they won't retain any player although they are keen on Chris Gayle.
Right from IPL 2, there have been suggestions that the franchise was not too happy with Ganguly. Now, they have reconciled to going into the new league without his dominating presence. "We have to see how the Kolkata fans will take this. It is sure to create at least some bit of unrest," an official involved with the developments conceded.
Meanwhile, Royal Challengers have given up on Dravid, given the cap on the number of players a team can retain.
Interestingly, Anil Kumble, who proved to be an inspirational captain and is now the KSCA president too, is very much on the Challengers' list. Virat Kohli and Ross Taylor are the other players they are quite keen on.
Delhi Daredevils have, meanwhile, gone ahead and signed a contract with Virender Sehwag. However, they are yet to do the same with Gautam Gambhir, the other part of the opening pair.
Chennai Super Kings is the only team that has retained all four players. Expectedly, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, along with Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and South African all-rounder Albie Morkel, have been held back.
Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, have wasted absolutely no time in signing up Indian cricket's most prized possession: Sachin Tendulkar. MI had in fact requested BCCI to increase the number of players to be retained from four to six.
However, with BCCI turning down that request, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga are still waiting to know about their future in MI.
Among other big names not being retained, Chennai have decided to let go of Matthew Hayden and Muralitharan. Chargers are not interested in holding back IPL-winning captain Adam Gilchrist either, nor Rohit Sharma. RCB, meanwhile, are letting go of Kallis and Robin Uthappa.