Sourav Ganguly is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). A top official said that the West Bengal government has decided to upgrade Ganguly’s security to “Z category.” The decision was made on Tuesday, after the Y category protection given to Ganguly ran out.
“When the VVIP’s security cover ran out, the protocol called for a review, and it was decided to raise Ganguly’s security cordon to Z category,” he said.
The source said that 8 to 10 police officers will watch over the former cricketer as part of the new security plan. Ganguly used to have three Special Branch cops in his cordon and the same number of law enforcement officers watching over his home in Behala when he was in the ‘Y category’ of security.
He also said that on Tuesday, people from the state government went to Ganguly’s office in Behala. There, they met with officers from the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar and the local police station.
Ganguly is currently on the road with his team, the Delhi Daredevils. They will return to Kolkata on May 21. “Starting that day, he will get Z category security,” the official said.
In West Bengal, Z Plus security is given to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Governor C V Ananda Bose, and Trinamool Congress MP and national secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Z category security is given to ministers like Firhad Hakim and Moloy Ghatak. Sukanta Majumdar, who is the head of the BJP in West Bengal, is also protected by the CISF and Z Plus.
Ganguly is the ‘Director of Cricket’ for the Delhi Capitals team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. DC is getting ready to play Punjab Kings at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Wednesday for match 64 of the IPL 2023.
The head coach of the Delhi Capitals, Ricky Ponting, talked about his rivalry with Ganguly on a podcast. He said that Steve Waugh and the former captain of India had more edge in their rivalry. The 50-year-old was India’s leader in the early 2000s, and he played international cricket against Ponting many times.
“When you talk about competition, he was a bigger rival when Steve Waugh was the captain. They were a little bit tougher than Sourav and me. We did play each other a lot, and we were captains against each other in the World Cup final,” Ponting said.
“We get along great because we can see the bigger picture for this brand and what we need to do together to make sure DC is successful. Even if we’re not good friends, we have to pull together and work in the same way when we’re on a team. “Don’t worry about what happened in the past; it’s already happened,” Ponting said.
