Ganguly looking forward to work with Whatmore

Amid speculations and anticipations, KKR announced Dav Whatmore as their new coach for the third season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and captain Sourav Ganguly said he was keenly looking forward to work with the Australian for a successful season ahead.

''KKR is looking forward to an exciting and successful season ahead with the new appointments and strategies in place. I am excited at the prospect of working with Dav and the entire team closely in addition to playing at our home ground once again,'' said Ganguly.

After holding several meetings over the past few weeks, the KKR yesterdaty announced the appointment of Whatmore to take over John Buchanan as the team's new coach, keeping in mind the vision and ideals of the team.

Ganguly, who once again is back at the helm as captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), was instrumental to this decision, whose experience and knowledge were key factors in the entire vision and decision-making process for the season ahead. ''Whatmore will be supported in his new role by Vijay Dahiya as Assistant Coach and Wasim Akram as mentor. ''Andrew Leipus and Adrian le Roux have been appointed as the Physiotherapist and Team Trainer respectivel,'' a KKR press release said today.

On the decision of the new coach's appointment, the KKR management was very clear on their unanimous choice.

''Dav (Whatmore) has the right vision not only for the team, but for each of the players, and for the franchise as a whole. He is very aware of our current position in IPL and knows that there is only one way to go now up,'' asserted Jay Mehta, co-owner of KKR. Whatmore has led the Sri Lankan team to victory at the 1996 World Cup and also coached the Bangladesh team to their first Test Victory in 2005. In addition, he served as the Director of Cricket Operations at National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore for the past two years. ''I am optimistic about the season ahead and have the utmost faith in Sourav, the team, and KKR Management and look forward to a successful tournament. I will be working closely with the team to continue building KKR into a successful franchise both on and off field,'' said an excited Dav on his new appointment.

-- (UNI) -- 06SPD26.xml

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