John Buchanan wanted to remove Sourav Ganguly from KKR captaincy, reveals Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra, who featured for the Knight Riders in ‘08 and ‘09 season, has claimed that the franchise’s former coach John Buchanan was admittedly keen on removing Sourav Ganguly as captain. Buchanan was sacked as KKR’s head coach post the 2009 season after two dismal campaigns.
Owing to boasting arguably the biggest name in Indian cricket, Sourav Ganguly, as the captain and one of the most successful coaches of all time, John Buchanan, as the head coach, Kolkata Knight Riders were deemed as one of the heavy favourites even before the commencement of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, despite kicking off the tournament in the grandest fashion possible, thanks to Brendon McCullum's heroics, KKR's on-field performance seldom matched their hype and after two finishes in the bottom half of the table, the franchise parted ways with head coach Buchanan in 2009.
Many identified a strained relationship between the captain and the coach, Ganguly and Buchanan, as one of the reasons for the same, but the true nature of the duo’s feud has now been revealed by former KKR player Aakash Chopra. According to Chopra, who played 7 games for KKR between 2008 and 2009, Ganguly and Buchanan initially got along well but then the clash-of-egos got to the point where the Australian was desperate to remove the Prince of Kolkata as the franchise’s skipper.
“When he came the first year, there was John Buchanan, Ricky Ponting was also there. Sourav Ganguly was the captain and I have seen this from close quarters. The relationship was alright to begin with, it was good at the start," Chopra said on his official YouTube channel, reported Times Now.
"But after that, it did not remain good. Because his way of working was different and Sourav had a different temperament. In the end, he also wanted to remove Sourav Ganguly from captaincy, which happened the following season. Because in the first season he came at No.6 and in the second season he came at No. 8, when Sourav was not the captain."
That did not transpire, however, as it was Buchanan who got the sack after KKR finished bottom of the table in the 2009 season. Ganguly, too, did not enjoy a great stint with the franchise, though, as the Shah Rukh Khan-owned club decided to do away with his services post the IPL 2010 season.