Kolkata: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly praised the BCCI for making the Indian Premier League (IPL) a success, and singled out Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) star spinner Sunil Narine as "the man" of the IPL.
Ahead of this year's inaugural ceremony at the Salt Lake stadium here on Tuesday, Ganguly observed that the IPL has done "wonders" for Indian cricket.
"It's done wonders for Indian cricket. The BCCI deservers accolades for setting up the tournament and making it successful. You can set up a tournament but to make it successful like this you need special efforts," said the southpaw.
Even as he picked quite a few teams as his favourite, Ganguly said KKR will always remain special.
"While there are quite a few favourite teams, KKR is special as I captained the side for two years," said Ganguly, who led the city franchise in 2008 and 2009.
Talking about outstanding talents, the former India opener singled out Narine and said he was waiting see the Kings XI Punjab batting trio of Glenn Maxwell, David Miller and Virender Sehwag in action.
"There have been quite a few outstanding talents over the years. The first year threw up some domestic talents as Rajasthan Royal set the stage out.
"But I think Sunil Narine, he has been the man of the IPL. His impact for the last 3-4 seasons has been unbelievable," Ganguly said about the spinner who has 67 wickets so far from 47 outings in the tournament.
"The best thing about the IPL in the last two seasons is that the difference between the teams has not been much and that is why it has been more exciting.
"While Chennai have been consistent, we have the Royal Challengers Bangalore having Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Then there is the Maxwell-Miller-Sehwag factor for the Kings XI," he said.