IPL 2011: Dada back in IPL; Sourav Ganguly joins Pune Warriors

Good news for some diehard 'dada' fans. The prince of Kolkata, Sourav Ganguly, has been signed by Pune Warriors as a replacement for bowler Ashish Nehra, who was ruled out for the remainder of the IPL 2011 season with a finger injury. Dada's contract with Pune Warriors is for a period of one year and its considered as an IPL lifeline to the legend after he went unsold at the player auction earlier this year. His base price was $400,000.

Ganguly will be the vice-captain of PW and is likely to join the squad ahead of their big clash against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on May 4.

Ganguly played for KKR in the first three seasons of the IPL and led the team in two of them, while wicket keeper batsman Brendon McCullum was captain for the last season. Kolkata played poorly in those years and are the only franchise not to make the semi-finals. KKR did not bid for Ganguly in January despite his name coming up for sale twice, as they revamped their squad entirely, and the batsman later refused a mentoring role with the franchise.

Pune Warriors is at the bottom of the points table at present, having lost 6 consecutive matches after winning their first two. Ganguly who has an average IPL record of 1031 runs at an average of 28 and strike-rate of 110 could strengthen an under-performing and short batting order.