Dav Whatmore's experience would help KKR: Saurav Ganguly

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly today expressed happiness over the appointment of Dav Whatmore as the new head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and said his vast experience of this sub-continent would help the side in the third IPL T20 championship.

Ganguly, expected to lead KKR again, told reporters at Eden Gardens that he was informed by the team managment that Dav Whatmore had been appointed as head coach to replace John Buchanan.

The Colombo-born Australian was the coach of Sri Lankan team, which won the 1996 World Cup, and now he will replace former KKR coach Buchannan in the Shahrukh Khan-owned franchisee. Whatmore also coached Bangladesh national cricket team.

Ganguly said Whatmore's knowledge of Indian sub-continent cricket would help KKR tremendsously provided all the players perform up to their mark.

He said whilst recruitment of domestic players was over, buying of overseas players through auctions would begin in December.

The 37-year-old further said eight to ten more oversease players are likely to be tried for KKR for 2010 season.

The Indian Premier League's franchisee Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is expected to announce officially about the appointment of Whatmore shortly.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently informed in a release that Whatmore had resigned as head coach of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and had inked contract with KKR as their new head coach for the 2010 season of IPL.

Whatmore was selected as the best candidate for this job among other candidate, including John Wright, Richard Pybus, Dermot Reeve, Duncan Fletcher, Lalchand Rajput, W V Raman and Ashok Malhotra.

Buchanan was sacked from his post when KKR failed to deliver in first two seasons of the IPL, and they finished at the last spot among the eight teams of the IPL-2. Buchannan was also criticised for his multiple-captain theory and was at loggerheads with Gagnuly before the begginning of the second IPL in South Africa.

''I have been informed that Whatmore will be our next coach. I know him for a long time. It will be exciting to work with him, '' Ganguly added.

-- (UNI) -- 05SPC4.xml

Viewer's Comment

Comments Not Available

More Stories