Sourav to sit out of Pune's last 3 games

Pune: Sourav Ganguly will not be part of the playing eleven in Pune Warriors India's remaining three matches of the Indian Premier League season five and will serve only as the team's mentor from the next season, team owner Subrata Roy said on Thursday. "Sourav wants to give youngsters a chance in the last games," Roy said.

Ganguly has been under the scanner for his failure as a batsman in the current edition of the IPL while the team's below-par show has also put a question mark on his waning leadership skills. Pune have lost nine of their 13 matches in the league so far.

"I did not want to be the captain but was asked to do so. Now I want to give a chance to the youngsters," Ganguly said. Ganguly was appointed skipper after Yuvraj Singh, currently recuperating from a rare germ cell cancer, was ruled out.

\"Sourav wants to give youngsters a chance in the last games,\" said the team owner Subrata Roy.

Ganguly's future role in the team was also spelt out by the franchise owner Roy who said that the veteran batsman wants to remain in the team as a mentor only. "Sourav will be the mentor next season. We rather pushed him to play in IPL 5 as he is such a fantastic captain," Roy said.

After a decent start, Ganguly has gone through a lean patch both as a batsman and a skipper, and his captaincy of late has been a subject of speculation.

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