Warne was former Oz coach Buchanan’s ‘puppet’: Hussey

Sydney: Australian spin legend Shane Warne has been revealed to be a ‘puppet’ of former coach John Buchanan, whom Warne openly detested during his playing days, in an interview with retired batsman Michael Hussey, to an Australian news channel.

Hussey revealed that Warne’s strings were pulled by Buchanan in many ways, adding that he was bowled over by the way Buchanan spoke to and treated Warne or tried to motivate him. According to Hussey, Buchanan would challenge Warne with things that were a little bit left-field, almost getting into an argument with him, which so fired up the spin great that he went out to the field and performed in his own way, just to prove his coach wrong. In a memorable outburst in 2007, Warne called Buchanan a "goose" and said players had to put up with his "verbal diarrhoea" during his nine years in charge of the Australian team. Buchanan and Shane Warne had never got along as the coach was all about structure, analysis and laptop computers, while Warne was about guile, instinct and gut feel, the report added. ANI