Sourav Ganguly has been made the ‘face of the tournament’ in the Indian Super League that starts this Sunday. As the deal was made before him becoming the BCCI President, he will have to present at the opening ceremony in Kochi.

Ganguly has been involved with the ISL since the inaugural edition as the co-owner of the two-time champions Atlético de Kolkata (ATK). This year, he has already shot with the ISL team before he took up the most important job at BCCI.

This will mean that he will miss out on being present at Ranchi for India’s third Test against South Africa on Sunday and will be present at the opening ceremony of ISL 2019/20 at Kochi. He will then be at the BCCI office in Mumbai on Monday for the AGM. The caption on ISL’s tweet translates to ‘Football is on the street in Kolkata. Football runs in blood in Kolkata. Kolkata's #TrueLove football. Kolkata Ready! And you?’

কলকাতার গলি গলি তে আছে ফুটবল। কলকাতার রক্তে দৌড়ায় ফুটবল। কলকাতার #TrueLove ???? ফুটবল। কলকাতা রেডি! আর আপনি? #LetsFootball pic.twitter.com/u9drN2EVx9

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) October 9, 2019

Ganguly clarified saying, “I'm now the face of ISL this time and shot for them. So, I will have to attend the opening ceremony in Kerala and miss out on the Ranchi Test.”

He also revealed the future plans with ATK, his Bengali TV show Dadagiri, commentary, article writing and his stint with the Delhi Capitals in the IPL.

“I'm still with ATK and will speak to them soon. I will continue doing only (Bengali TV show) Dadagiri and endorsements, rest all stopped. Commentary, article writing and IPL, I'll stop doing all this now. I've already quit Delhi Capitals and conveyed it to them. It's a huge responsibility and the first task would be to form various committees by calling the Apex Council meeting,” he said.

(Inputs from PTI)