Sourav Ganguly was not suited for T20 cricket, claims John Buchanan
Former KKR head coach John Buchanan, who coached the franchise in 2008 and 2009, has claimed that he was always of the opinion that Ganguly was not suited for T20 cricket - neither as a player nor as a captain. Buchanan was sacked as KKR coach after back-to-back failures in the competition.
When it was announced that two of the biggest forces in Indian and Australian cricket respectively, Sourav Ganguly and John Buchanan, were set to come together for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Bengal-based franchise was instantly touted ‘favourites’ by fans and experts, owing to the sheer star power in the side. But all of KKR’s success came only on paper as on the field, the franchise, astonishingly and shockingly, failed to make the knockouts in each of the first two editions of the competition, despite boasting a power-packed roster.
Naturally, the blame went on head coach Buchanan, who received the sack after KKR finished bottom of IPL 2009, but the former Aussie coach has now come up with a claim that club captain Ganguly was to equally blame for KKR’s barren run until 2011. Buchanan has claimed that he never saw Ganguly, who scored his runs in the IPL at a strike rate of 106.80, as someone who was fit for T20 cricket.
“My thinking at the time was, as a captain, you needed to be able to make quick decisions and your game needed to be suited to the shorter format, and that’s why I had those conversations with Sourav,” Buchanan told Sportstar.
“I just couldn’t believe he was suited to the format of the game and certainly not in a formal captaincy role.”
KKR taking the punt with Ganguly is not the only instance of an IPL franchise putting the armband on the wrong player as over the course of the 12 seasons of the tournament, there have been multiple instances of teams regretting their choice of leader. According to Buchanan, leading a side in T20 cricket can be taxing and thus the Australian has advocated for franchises appointing/nominating multiple captains in the side. Such a move, Buchanan feels, will force everyone in the side to behave like a leader.
“I think it’s too much for one person to actually understand all the set of plays that you need to put in place, all the various decisions you need to make, reasonably quickly. And really where it was going to was to have everybody as a leader.
“In other words, you are saying split captaincy, but you want everybody to be a leader on the field. These days all the bowlers are in charge of every delivery that they make. All batters make decisions out there without necessarily the inputs of the captain and the coaches. I think that is where the strength of the team lies,” the former KKR coach opined.
Buchanan’s issues with Ganguly during the duo’s time together at KKR is something that has been well documented as recently, Aakash Chopra, a former KKR batsman, revealed that the Australian was always eager to do away with the West Bengal man as the side’s skipper. As things panned out, though, it was the Australian coach who suffered the axe before the Indian.