McCullum replaces Ganguly as Knight Riders captain

By at 18 April, 2009, 1:24 am

CAPE TOWN: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly was on Friday replaced by Kiwi Brendon McCullum as the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders team for the second edition of the Indian Premier League starting on Saturday, thereby putting an end to weeks of speculation.
Knight Riders’ captaincy was a topic of much speculation after its Australian coach-cum-director John Buchanan came up with the idea of having multiple captains.
But the Kolkata outfit management on Friday ended the controversy by naming the McCullum, who had given a rousing start to IPL last year with a breathtaking 156 against Bangalore Royal Challengers in the opening match, as the new skipper.
Interestingly, Ganguly became the third player to have lost captaincy this season after Deccan Chargers’ VVS Laxman and Royal Challengers’ Rahul Dravid.
Laxman was the first casualty when the Chargers made former Australian wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist as the skipper and then Dravid made way for Kevin Pietersen.
“As a member of the Kolkata Knight Riders it is good to be here for the tournament and we have appointed McCullum as our team captain, which we are very happy about,” Buchanan told reporters here.
The two-time World Cup winning former Australian coach said the decision to appoint McCullum as the skipper was supported by Ganguly himself, apart from other senior players like Brad Hodge, Chris Gayle and Matthew Mott.
“We look forward to the tournament and are realistically aiming for a place in the semifinals,” he said.
Interestingly, it is not clear whether McCullum will captain the Knight Riders for the entire season or if he is part of Buchanan’s multiple captaincy idea.
Meanwhile, McCullum welcomed the decision and said, “This is hugely exciting. We have trained hard, we have high expectations of ourselves, and we hope to deliver.”
The good news for the Shah Rukh Khan-owned team is that McCullum, unlike last time, will be available for the entire season alongside West Indies captain Gayle, considered as the backbone of the team’s batting line-up.
However, the team will miss David Hussey, who had a successful season last year, as he is likely to join the Australian squad to play Pakistan in a one-day series in Abu Dhabi and Dubai from April 22.