Former South African paceman Allan Donald, who was recently appointed as bowling coach of the Pune Warriors, today said it will be a "pity" if the reconciliation efforts between the BCCI and his IPL side fail.
Published: Feb 06, 2012, 10:49 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 06, 2012, 10:49 PM (IST)
Allan Donald was signed as coach by the Pune Warriors as bowling coach in early 2012 © Getty Images
New Delhi: Feb 6, 2012
Former South African paceman Allan Donald, who was recently appointed as bowling coach of the Pune Warriors, today said it will be a “pity” if the reconciliation efforts between the BCCI and his IPL side fail.
Sahara Group have ended their financial ties with the BCCI and pulled out of the IPL, saying they were not treated well by the Cricket Board.
BCCI today offered an olive branch to the aggrieved Group by saying that it was ready for a dialogue to resolve the matter.
“We hope something can come of it. I met some really good people there and it will be a pity if it doesn’t work out. It was an enormous surprise to all of us,” Donald said.
“We had absolutely no idea. The night before we were up until past midnight, discussing which players we were going to buy. We would have got all of them,” Donald told Cricinfo website.
Donald was signed as coach by the Pune Warriors as bowling coach at the start of the year and was part of a training camp conducted in Pune last week.
Donald is impressed with some of the players he saw during the camp.
“Ashish Nehra and Murali Kartik were there and a couple of the new guys like Manish Pandey. We met some of the younger guys and I can tell you there’s some really good talent. We also conducted a trial, which was really good,” he said.
The fate of the Pune players is unknown but Sahara Group boss Subroto Roy had said he was keen to see that his players do not suffer and get to play in IPL 5. (PTI)
