Thursday, August 13, 2009

Buchanans and Chapples don't understand India

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

Breaking his silence for the first time since his ouster Kolkata Knight Riders' ex-coach John Buchanan termed his Indian experience as disappointing. He added that he was shocked at being sacked as the coach of the KKR and was disappointed with franchise owner Shahrukh Khan as they had initially talked about a five year deal. Taking a dig at Sourav Ganguly he added that he felt the former Indian captain was not up to the pace demanded cricket's slam bang version.

This is not the first time that an Australian coach has had problem in dealing with an Indian team and this is also not the first time Sourav Ganguly has been the centre controversy. Who can forget the great Greg Chappell saga which did more harm to Indian cricket than any good. The former Australian coach had ousted then captain Ganguly and kept him waiting on the sidelines for a year. It is another story that Dada's determined comeback has become a folklore in Indian cricket.

The point is very clear Greg Chappell did not make Indian cricket better neither did John Buchanan do any good to the KKR. What they did was create an atmosphere of uncertainly which ultimately led to the team's decline. They failed to understand the Indian psychology more than anything else. Their methodology which might have done wonders in Australia took a beating here in India. But ego prevented both the men from accepting that they failed as coach.

Indians are not known to be individualists like the Aussies and look up to elders and seniors for advice and guidance. We might be a globalised nation but this is one intrinsic quality we have retained. For years younger players in the team have looked upto the seniors for advice. Buchanan and Chappell shook the pillars of the team calling for a performance related selection. True their methods might have been correct on papers but with the uncertainty created among the top players the team's performance went down.

They dealt with an Indian problem with an Australian approach and miserably failed. What's more both the men don't seem to accept that they have been failures in the Indian assignment. Not surprisingly people like John Wright and Gary Kirsten have had a better success rate with Indian cricket. Both of them never tried to steal the show from the captain and the players and acted as the perfect backbone support for the team. No two individuals and no two teams are the same. A successful leader is one who understands the different needs and adapts to the situation. Both Buchanan and Chapple failed to do so it is high time they accept their failures.

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