The 'differences' with Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan notwithstanding, Sourav Ganguly today said he would like to forget the past and look forward to a good show in the second season of the Indian Premier League starting in South Africa from April 18.
The 'differences' with Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan notwithstanding, Sourav Ganguly today said he would like to forget the past and look forward to a good show in the second season of the Indian Premier League starting in South Africa from April 18.
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"It's (the differences over captaincy issue) not a new thing in sports and I am sure it will happen in future also. It happens in a lot of teams. I think as professionals, we need to put this behind and look forward to playing in South Africa. I don't think it will affect (the team preparation)," the former India captain said on the sidelines of a promotional event.
Ganguly, who led the Knight Riders last year, was miffed after Buchanan announced that the Kolkata outfit would have multiple captains in the IPL this season.
The Bengal stalwart, however, said as professionals he and his teammates are determined to fulfill their responsibilities towards the team.
"We all are professionals and when the tournament starts we all have responsibilities. We all have reputations to keep. We know we are doing a job for Knight Riders for which everyone is looked after," Ganguly said.
Meanwhile, in an apparent move to douse the tension within the outfit over the captaincy issue, the Knight Riders have decided to announce their skipper and squad for the cash-rich T20 tournament in South Africa.
Although, the Knight Riders management decided to dump Buchanan's idea and stick to the "one" captain policy in a meeting at team owner Shah Rukh Khan's residence on Tuesday, they are still tightlipped on whether Ganguly would continue as the skipper or not.
Asked about the disappearance of Kolkata's name from the team logo, Ganguly said, "It's still Kolkata Knight Riders. Knight Riders is the company, it was there last year and it just disappeared perhaps because the tournament shifted to South Africa. But it will remain Kolkata Knight Riders when we return next year."
Ganguly, who leaves for South Africa on April 5, said their base camp, Bloemfontein will help in the team's preparation as it has the best wicket in South Africa.
"Bloemfontein is a very good place. They say Bloemfontein has the best wicket in South Africa. Everybody had their chance to select for their base camp and the reason why we chose Bloemfontein because it's the more quieter part of South Africa."
He further said the team's fitness trainer Adrian Le Roux belonged to that part of the country which was one of the reason behind the decision to select Bloemfontein as the base.
"Le Roux belongs to that place so obviously he had a major say in the decision. He knows the ground condition well and will be able to help us in terms of facilities, wickets and make sure we get everything in place before the camp starts," added Ganguly.
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