Former India captain and ex-BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has been named as the head coach of the Pretoria Capitals ahead of the forthcoming SA20 League season, the franchise confirmed on Sunday.
“The Prince is all set to bring a royal flair to the Capitals camp! We are ecstatic to announce Sourav Ganguly as our new head coach,” the team wrote on Instagram, marking the Bengal legend’s first full-fledged role as a head coach of any professional cricket team.
Ganguly succeeds Trott
Ganguly’s appointment was announced a day after former England batter Jonathan Trott stepped down from the head coach’s role at the Capitals. “Jonathan Trott, forever grateful for your leadership and unwavering dedication to the team. All the best on your next adventure! Once a Capital, always a Capital!,” the franchise had wrote on X on Saturday.
Since retiring from all forms of professional cricket in 2012, Ganguly has held several administrative and advisory roles in various capacities. He was a member of the Justice Mudgal Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the IPL spot-fixing scandal in 2013 and later served as the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) for four years between 2015 and 2019 besides occasional broadcast commitments.
Ganguly was was appointed as an advisor for the Delhi Capitals IPL team before becoming the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in October 2019. He returned to the Capitals as a team director in 2023.
In October 2024, following an agreement between the JSW and the GMR groups that co-own the Capitals franchises, Ganguly was named the head of cricket of the JSW Sports, tasked with overlooking with the women’s franchises and the Pretoria Capitals. Runners-up of the inaugural edition of the league two years ago, Pretoria finished fifth among the six teams last season.
To avoid a clash with the 2026 T20 World Cup, the forthcoming edition of the SA20 league was pushed ahead and will run between 26 December and 25 January.
13 Indians in SA20 Auction
Besides Ganguly’s appointment, 13 Indians were also to understood to sign up for the upcoming SA20 player auction, slated to be held on September 9. Former India wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik is also the Indian to have featured in the tournament before, having represented Paarl Royals last year following his retirement from Indian cricket.
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Indians in SA20 2025/26 auction: Piyush Chawla, Ankit Rajpoot, Siddharth Kaul, Mahesh Ahir (Gujarat), Sarul Kanwar (Punjab), Anureet Singh Kathuria (Delhi), Nikhil Jaga (Rajasthan), Mohamed Faidh (state not mentioned), KS Naveen (Tamil Nadu), Ansari Marouf, Imran Khan (UPCA), Venkatesh Galipelly (state not mentioned), Atul Yadav (UPCA).
