Sourav Ganguly said he’s enjoying being a head coach at the Pretoria Capitals in SA20, a role he has taken for the first time in his career. The former India captain said the job is completely different from playing, so much so that his experience doesn’t mean much in the field.
Previously, Ganguly has worked in smaller roles in IPL franchises, while also taking up several administrative duties in the BCCI and the Cricket Association of Bengal. Pretoria Capitals have seen decent success so far, defeating Paarl Royals by 21 runs at Boland Park in the latest match on Saturday.
“First time ever in my life, I am a head coach. But I am enjoying it. Actually, I am very close to (Delhi Capitals co-owner) Parth (Jindal), so he asked me to do this, so I did
it. I am also learning. I may have played any amount of matches, captained any amount of matches, but this is different. I am coaching and I am doing this to learn and understand,” he said.
This was Pretoria’s second consecutive win of the season, helping them jump to third in the points table.
“When you play any big tournament, whether it’s a World Cup, IPL or SA20, the back-end gets very tight and competitive and that’s where you need to be at your best. It’s a very important point. You know these sort of wins when you defend one side, it actually gives you a lot of confidence. Hopefully we will continue to do that. But in sport, every day is a new day. So we’ll pick ourselves up and start fresh the day after tomorrow,” he said.
Ganguly believes there are few better places to be involved with cricket than South Africa.
“This has been a great place for us. I have come so many times here, the World Cup finals, in 2003. We lost, but we were exceptional in the tournament. South Africa is a place for cricket. You can see how good the tournament is. The stands are full, even on a weekday, people come and watch. Whether it’s Cape Town, whether it’s Pretoria, whether it’s Paarl because it’s a cricketing country, it’s been a great tournament,” he said.
