After BCCI exit, Saurav becomes Bandhan's face

Kolkata: Amidst high voltage political drama and wide spread speculations over the reasons of unceremonious exit of Saurav Ganguly from the post of president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the former Indian skipper on Thursday was roped in as the brand ambassador of the Kolkata-headquartered Bandhan Bank, making it somewhat clear that his other performances will continue as strong as ever.

It has also driven home the point that Ganguly's brand value as brand endorser is not going to get diluted soon, with or without the BCCI hat. That's not all.

Speaking for the first time after the news of his possible exit from the world's richest cricketing body, the 'Prince of Kolkata" minced no word in saying that he may be down but certainly not out. In fact, he said that he will move on to take up bigger role and do better things in life very soon. Interestingly, the Bengal BJP leaders had also been hinting at "some good news" for Ganguly.

Ever since the news of Ganguly's exit from the BCCI broke out, there have been continuous trading of charges by Trinamul Congress, other non-BJP parties and the Modi-Shah's party over the last two days. While Mamata Banerjee's party and some other non-BJP parties latched on to the opportunity in making tirades against the ruling party at the Centre for being vindictive against the Bengal Icon for turning down BJP's offer to become the party's face in Bengal, BJP bosses launched counter attacks saying that neither TMC nor any other political party had done anything recognising Ganguly contributions to Indian cricket. It's the BJP government that had made the stylish left-handed batsman the BCCI president. In fact, top brass of the saffron brigade including Swapan Dasgupta and party MP Locket Chatterjee hinted at 'some good news' from Ganguly, looking beyond BCCI presidentship.

Gaining his confidence from the newly acquired assignment of Bandhan Bank's brand endorser, Ganguly broke his silence on Thursday. He said that he had enjoyed his different roles as a player, as the Indian skipper and an administrator as BCCI president. However no role is forever and one has to move on. He is also moving on to take up bigger role soon, Ganguly said without clearly mentioning if he was game for ICC chairmanship.

Although BCCI has already nominated Union Home Minister Amit Shah's son and BCCI secretary Joy Shah to represent BCCI at the ICC board meetings, a hidden desire of Jr Shah that remained unfulfilled during Ganguly's tenure as the BCCI president. And it may not be easy (some say it is highly unlikely) for the outgoing BCCI president to make it to the ICC's coveted post.

Quite significantly, within 24 hours of the news of Ganguly's exit from the BCCI, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced 'special award' for Saurav's wife and renowned Odissi exponent Dona Ganguly for her troupe's performance during the Durga Puja Carnival (although Dona herself had not performed as she had not been keeping well). More "surprises" may be in the offing from the Mamata's side for Saurav.

Sources say pressures are still being mounted on the former Indian skipper and successful warrior of many cricketing battles, to accept BJP's offer to politically endorse the Saffron Brigade. How Saurav, known for staging comebacks, pads up for a fresh innings (or a completely new one, for that matter!) remains to be seen. But the match is on and not forget that Ganguly, during his cricketing days, was known and famous for hitting sixers, stepping out!