Pretoria Capitals coach Sourav Ganguly has not missed the opportunity to catch up with a couple of his players whilst the Proteas have been in his hometown, Kolkata, during their ongoing Test series against India.
Two of the Capitals’ senior players Keshav Maharaj and Dewald Brevis are part of the Proteas’ Test squad. Both will be playing out of the Centurion-based franchise for the first time this coming season, with the Capitals purchasing Brevis for a record R16.5 million at the Season 4 auction.
“He’s the boss at Pretoria Capitals and they broke the bank on Dewald Brevis. And I think Keshav might be there as well,” Proteas coach Shukri Conrad said.
“It was just a nice catch-up with some of the guys that he’s going to work with in a month’s time.”
Ganguly is certainly looking forward to getting stuck in at the Capitals in his more “hands-on” role as head coach, having succeeded former England batter Jonathan Trott [to be assisted by Shaun Pollock].
“I have been in charge of DC (Delhi Capitals), but obviously as a Director of Cricket. So, I told (Delhi Capitals chairman) Parth (Jindal) last year that if I’m involved, I want to be involved fully,” Ganguly said at the Betway SA20 India Day.
“I have the freedom to take players, decide players. And I think that’s the most enjoyable part.
“It’s a great opportunity and we’ll see where it goes. I’m looking forward to the tournament. It’s a very good tournament.”
While all the attention may have been focused on Brevis’ big-money signing at the 2025 Player Auction, Ganguly feels the Capitals have acquired some of the best young talent in South Africa that will carry the franchise forward in the future.
“We put a lot of money in for Brevis because we feel he’s a very good talent and will be with the Capitals for a long period of time. He’s a young boy, just 23 years of age,” Ganguly said.
“But there’s a lot of other good talent also. (Bryce) Parsons, (Meeka-eel) Prince, (Connor) Esterhuizen is very highly spoken about in South African cricket.
“We went into the franchise with all the money because we wanted to pick up a very strong local base and we managed to do that.”
Centurion is renowned for being a high-scoring ground. It boasts the highest team total (DSG’s 254/4 in 2023), the highest total batting second (PC’s 214/8 in 2024), the highest individual score (Kyle Verreynne’s 116* in 2024) and the fastest individual century (Will Jacks 41 balls in 2024) in Betway SA20 history.
Armed with this knowledge, Ganguly’s strategy was to acquire some of the best bowling talent, with a focus on high-quality spin, to compliment the fast bowlers in a bid to restrict the opposition.
“You have to bowl well at Centurion because it’s a very good batting wicket. High scoring ground. It’s not a very big ground. That’s why we emphasized bowling,” he said.
“We have (Lungi) Ngidi, we have Lizaad (Williams), we have Codi (Yusuf). We have a good bowling attack with (Andre) Russell being the all-rounder.
“Spin, I know, is a very important part of T20 cricket, and Keshav Maharaj is probably the best left-arm spinner at the current moment. He’s done exceptionally well for South Africa.
“So, we’ve focused on the bowling bit because we saw last year that it’s not easy to contain teams on that good batting wicket at Centurion.”
The Capitals open their Betway SA20 Season 4 campaign on Saturday, 27 December against Joburg Super Kings at Centurion – buy tickets now.
