Ganguly ignored as captain

After weeks of speculation, New Zealand's Brendon McCullum as captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders team has replaced Sourav Ganguly for the second Indian Premier League starting here on Saturday.
KKR's captaincy was a topic of much speculation after its Australian coach-cum-director John Buchanan came up with the idea of having multiple captains.
The Knight Riders management on Friday put an end to all speculations by deciding to name McCullum as the new skipper, team sources said.
Buchanan had earlier proposed rotating the captaincy among Ganguly, McCullum, Chris Gayle and Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, which created quite a furore.
Ganguly openly opposed the idea saying, "On Saturday I can ask for four different coaches".
Team owner, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan felt the proposal should be given a chance and said he would rather try and fail. McCullum, the swashbuckling New Zealand wicket-keeper batsman, was the front-runner to get the job.
Meanwhile, Gayle told an Indian newspaper that the system is worth to be tried out.
"The Knight Riders have been in the news lately for the four-captain theory. We have been with our coach who explained to us on how to go about these things," Gayle wrote in his column for the Times of India.
"It's worth a try and something new to everyone."
Current cricketers and former players like Sunil Gavaskar have been sceptical of the concept since it was announced by Buchanan at a press conference in Kolkata last month in the presence of Ganguly, who led the team last year. Ganguly later said he was not fully convinced about the idea and his teammate Ishant Sharma also expressed doubts over the concept. Buchanan said his theory had been misunderstood by many people and clarified that he will "not select a squad captain but will select a captain for each match."
Gayle was unable to play the IPL last year as he was sidelined with a groin injury but managed to spend time with the squad. In this edition, he will be available only for the first few weeks before heading to England to play a Test series.
"Hopefully we can build on the good spirit and make a good start this time around and take it from there. It was very disappointing last season watching from the sidelines. I did not want to brood too much last time on missing out because it was just a matter of time."
He also concurred with Shane Warne's view that the ICC needs to find a window for the IPL in the international calendar to allow international players like himself to commit to the entire tournament.
Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad has dismissed John Buchanan's multiple-captain theory, calling it nothing but a 'joke'.
Miandad said the former Australia coach's unique theory has nothing to do with serious cricket. "I see it as a joke, nothing more. How can you have three or four different captains of one team in one tournament? Does a country have four prime ministers and four presidents?" Miandad said.