Kolkata, Nov 14 (IANS) Australian captain Ricky Ponting would miss the first eight to nine games of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the third edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be played March-April next year.
Disclosing this, KKR skipper Sourav Ganguly told reporters here that the team management was eyeing some Pakistani players, provided they are available and the authorities gave the go-ahead.

“Ponting will be busy playing for Australia. He will miss the first eight-nine matches. We will get him only from April 4. So we are looking for some players who are available. We are also eyeing few Pakistan players, provided we get the requisite permissions and they are available,” Ganguly said.

The KKR will hold two camps in December and January.

Ganguly was addressing a joint media meet with KKR’s new coach Dav Whatmore.

Whatmore sought to allay apprehensions arising from his predecessor John Buchanan’s unconventional ideas like multiple captains.

“It needs a big effort to put up a good performance after the negatives of the past two years. We are looking forward. There should be healthy relationships between the coach, skipper and other players,” he said.

Ganguly said cricket was not played in the dressing room, and added: “The last year didn’t go well for us. There were issues that we shouldn’t talk about now. We need to keep in mind that it’s not a national team and there are domestic-level players and juniors who need to be looked after.

“The format of T20 allows one to play freely. We got to create an atmosphere in the team that allows the players to have a free mind so that they can play freely,” he said.