IPL 4: Dav Whatmore happy with Kolkata Knight Riders’ pickings
Dav Whatmore, the coach of Kolkata http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Knight-c71599 Riders is satisfied with the bunch of players his Indian Premier League franchise has picked for the fourth edition of the Twenty20 league.
The burly Australian, who took over the coaching reins of KKR for IPL 2010, refused to speak when asked to comment on snubbing former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly at the IPL auction which took place in Bangalore on 8 and 9 January, 2011.
“I have my personal views but I would like them to remain with me,” said the 56-year-old. “We are very happy with the players we got and the team we have as of now. Everything went very well for us during the auctions and we are thankful
for the line up we have,” he added.
The 38-year-old former middle-order batsman of India was the leading run-scorer for Kolkata Knight Riders in the third edition of Indian Premier League but was left out as none of the 10 IPL franchises showed interest in buying Ganguly at
the two-day auction in Bangalore.
One of the realistic reasons behind snubbing the prolific batsman from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 all-rounder was among 28 unsold players who were brought back in the pool on Sunday
to have a second look but failed as it turned out to be the biggest snub for one of India's greatest captains.
Dav Whatmore, who played seven Tests for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 team that lifted the 1996 World Cup. He also guided the Bengali tigers to two historic victories in the ICC
World Cup 2007 against India. He was also the coach of Indian Under-19 side that won the Junior World Cup in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Malaysia-c2949 in 2008.
The franchise contracted the flamboyant Indian opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 all-rounder Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan, offering them hefty pay cheques. The KKR coach backed the decision saying it was important that the
players perform.
“All the teams have great stars but we have to try and turn these into good and consistent performances,” said Whatmore while talking to a sports website.
The fourth edition of the money-spinning Indian Premier League gets underway on 8 April 2011.
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