Venky Mysore
KKR CEO Venky Mysore (Credits - AFP)

Sourav Ganguly was picked up as the icon player for KKR in the inaugural season and was named as the captain of the side. Unfortunately, he could not produce the desired result for KKR as they finished at the sixth spot in first season and bottom of the table in the second. Their performance did not better in the third year counting as they finished on the sixth spot again in 2010.

Following this, a major decision to not retain Ganguly was taken by KKR CEO Venky Mysore, and a lot of home fans were naturally left heartbroken. However, it was not a personally difficult decision to take for Mysore, as he was not a part of the team since the last two-three years but definitely monitored their performances. He also said that the co-owners have always backed his performance.

Venky Mysore, IPL
Venky Mysore. Photo Credit: KKR.

“I’ll break that down into two parts. Personally, for me, it didn’t see like a big decision (not retaining Sourav Ganguly), only because I was unattached. If I had been part of the organisation for three years, or two years or one year, it would have been a tougher decision,” Mysore said in the latest episode of ‘The RK show’ uploaded on Youtube.

“This was like someone completely coming in from the outside, which I was, literally from the outside. Eventually, I realised, that for the organisation and for the owners, it was tough. It’s a decision and an approach that I proposed as I was given the mandate,” he said.

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“I am not a complete lone-ranger maverick who runs off and wants to do my own thing. But at the same time, my entire career, I was used to being given the autonomy to operate, to also be accountable at the same time. I used to report to boards,” Mysore said.

"It Was Not Tough": KKR CEO Venky Mysore On Big Decision To Drop Sourav Ganguly In 2011
Sourav Ganguly and John Buchanan [Photo-Getty]
Ganguly played as an icon player for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) between 2008 to 2010. He later represented the Pune Warriors India between 2011 to 2012. The former KKR and India captain had said that he would have liked playing the shortest format of the game a bit longer.

Ganguly played 59 matches in the IPL. Though he was not consistent, he brought in a lot of experience to the IPL franchises. The southpaw scored 1349 runs in the tournament at an average of 25 with seven half-centuries to his name.