Saurav Ganguly IPL

IPL rule book rules out Saurav Ganguly for Kochi

Saurav Ganguly

New Delhi: Former India and Kolkata Kinght Riders skipper Sourav Ganguly may have lost a realistic chance of playing in this year's Indian Premier League, according to the IPL rule book.

It was learnt on Friday that the Kochi Tuskers Kerala had made an attempt to rope in Ganguly as a replacement player for Steve Smith. Having been ignored at the IPL-4 auction in January in Bangalore, the only way Ganguly could have come into the IPL was as a replacement player.

With Smith pulling out of injury, Kochi wanted Ganguly as his replacement but the rule book states that, a player can be replaced at the same or lesser price than the player to be replaced. Smith was purchased by Kochi for $200,000 while Ganguly's base price was $400,000.

Surprisingly, Ganguly's base price, initially, was $200,000. But former Indian skipper, along with a few other players, including Rahul Dravid, had increased it to $400,000.

If he had not done that, Ganguly could easily have walked into the Kochi team and fulfilled his dream of playing in the IPL-4.