‘Saurav Ganguly Will Do A Good Job As Delhi Capitals’ Head Coach’, Feels Former Cricketer Mohammad Kaif

Saurav Ganguly is among the contenders to take up the role, as he is currently associated with the franchise as Director of Cricket.

New Delhi: July 19 (IANS) Former Delhi Capitals assistant coach Mohammad Kaif feels that Sourav Ganguly will do a “good job” if appointed as the head coach of the Indian Premier League franchise after Ricky Ponting’s departure.

Ganguly is among the contenders to take up the role, as he is currently associated with the franchise as Director of Cricket. In the last edition of the IPL, Delhi Capitals failed to reach the playoffs after finishing sixth in the league stage.

Kaif, who has worked with the side for three years as assistant head coach, pointed out that the team doesn’t back their players in the tournament which is the main reason behind their lacklustre campaign in the tournament so far.

“Delhi Capitals rotate their players so much. New players come and go, they had Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Rilee Rossouw, and Ripal Patel for whom they said they’re grooming him. But they are not following their template of making a team of youngsters as they move on from that and bring in senior players. They don’t back their players and keep on changing players,” Kaif told IANS.

“I feel Sourav Ganguly will do a good job if he takes over as Delhi Capitals head coach. He has experience, and a mega auction is also coming, so he will build a good team. Delhi had players but their problem was inconsistent playing 11.

“I don’t think they had issues with the players, they had quality players but they somehow lacked in backing their players,” he added.

Asked why they shuffle their players so much and, is there any pressure from the team management, Kaif responded, “Captains like Rohit Sharma and Ricky Ponting should not have an issue from the management. He is a legend and he should know how to run the team. The challenge comes when you lose 2-3 matches and after that, the management also gets involved and asks ‘Why are you losing?’ When management asks what is going on, this is where the puzzle goes wrong and pressure builds.”

He added that “Delhi made tactical mistakes in the last few matches and missed out on the (play-off) qualification.”

When asked about his next coaching stint in IPL, Kaif said, “he would love to be on the ground and connect with like-minded people”, without revealing any name.