Zeecric Bureau
New Delhi, July 09: Write a book full of controversial statements and it is sure to be a hit seems to be the mantra nowadays. John Buchanan, former coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders IPL team, who was recently in the news for his troubled off-field relationship with Sourav Ganguly, seems to have taken a cue from this.
Buchanan in his book 'The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty20' has taken a swipe at not just one but a number of stars including Harbhajan Singh, Sunil Gavaskar, Yuvraj Singh, Mark Ramprakash, Shoaib Akhtar, Kevin Pietersen and Vijay Mallya.
While talking of the IPL franchisee meet in Goa before the second season of the T20 league, Buchanan refers to an incident where his suggestion of allowing more international players to play in the IPL was referred to the IPL technical committee, which is headed by Gavaskar.
To this, Buchanan writes, "What this means is that any ideas that affect the way T20 might be played are referred to a committee chaired by a person who is blinkered by bias and tradition."
But what is most interesting is the treatment meted out by the former Aussie coach to Sourav Ganguly. While on the one hand, Buchanan has lavished praise on the southpaw, comparing him to Ian Chappell, he maintains that the former Indian skipper is unsuitable for T20 cricket.
Even Yuvraj Singh has not been spared by Buchanan, who goes on to write, "Yuvraj Singh in a sense tries to be a modern-day Ganguly, but I don't think he has the charisma or the dignity with which Ganguly carries himself".
The former KKR coach describes Harbhajan Singh as someone who is "good at dishing out treatment, lighting the fire, and then finding an appropriate means to camouflage his action".
First Published: Thursday, July 09, 2009, 09:45