When will Shahrukh Khan sack John Buchanan? This is the question that is in every Bengali’s lips. Will he have the sense to do it? Will he finally realize that 20/20 cricket doesn’t have place for an oldie (an oldie coach that is, IPL has already proved that it has place for players on the wrong side of 35).
Whether Shahrukh sack Buchanan or not, it is a fact that Buchanan has not learnt. He is as flexible as an iron pole. Hearing all the statements and ideas he has it is very difficult even for a Kolkata native to suppress his anger, I don’t know how Shahrukh is still controlling himself. He was in South Africa, did he find any cricket expert support Buchanan’s ideas, I dare ask. It is one thing being foolhardy, but entirely different to be foolish. Shahrukh doesn’t come across as such a foolish person.
And the question I want to ask, does Buchanan have any shame. Any self respecting person will try to remain silent in the situation he is in. But this shameless Aussie seems to be crossing all limits. He has publicly said that his team is following a Batting Strategy and that’s the reason why Mushraffe Mortaza, Ajantha Mendis is not getting a game. A batting strategy?? Please check your leading Batsmen’s average and strike rate, except Brad Hodge in the last 2 games. Your captain who is also the Opening Batsman’s score looked like a Telephone number 0,1,3,0. When he scored more than 10 in the last match, he probably thought he was playing a Test Match. May be this entire season Buchanan will experiment with his batting strategy and then next year (if he manages to hold on to his job) he will experiment with bowling strategy. Why can’t Shahrukh advice him to buy a team and do all the experiments he want like he so arrogantly advice Sunil Gavaskar?
In his utter desperation Buchanan now wants more than 4 foreign players in the playing XI. Has he forgotten this is the INDIAN Premier League? Why doesn’t he search for a job in the proposed American League? In the absence of local players, Buchanan can select as many foreign (read Australian) players as he wants. He can single handedly become Queensland’s Largest employer for jobless, talentless cricketers and ex-cricketers. Is it our fault that he cannot spot young Indian talent like S Jataki, T Suman, S Tyagi etc??
Buchanan, by suggesting every playing XI should have more foreign players is insulting Indian Talents and in turn India. I want to see the Indian Media to highlight this. Is it not the right of every Indians to uphold its pride? When will we stop stooping in front of white skinned people?
Monday, May 4, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Sharukh Khan tired of his new toy?
We all have been seeing statements of the Kolkata Knight Rider owner Mr. Shahrukh Khan all over the place, stating that he will not return to South Africa. He has stated that he is so upset that he doesn't think it necessary to be with his team and will only be returning to South Africa once his team starts winning. And it seems that his team is determined to save their owner the trouble of making the long and tiresome journey. We are also reading that Shahrukh wants to sell off is team and is holding talks with some Industrialists to see if he can offload his burden.
With all this news floating around, it makes me and everyone wonder what was the motive of Shahrukh Khan to initially jump into this IPL Bandwagon? Is it really because of his love for sport? Is it because he was close to the BCCI power center and couldn’t refuse their request, as his name definitely meant lot of publicity for the newly conceptualized tournament? Is it because he wanted IPL to be the vehicle to increase his political clout? Is it because he wanted to be one up against his Bollywood competitors? Or, is it because he wanted to promote the brand SHAHRUKH KHAN?
He has given thousands of bytes in front of the Camera emphasizing how much he loves sport, how it was not about making money, how he plans to gradually invest for the promotion of some other sport in the future. Listening him rant and rave about his noble thoughts and motives, we actually started believing him; He was enthusiastic about his new plaything and we read about the numerous sleepless nights he spent trying to perfect every aspect of his team. His team didn’t really kick up the storm on the cricket grounds (apart from the 1st match against Bangalore), but the passion was there and the fans were behind the team. So we thought Shahrukh was happy.
But this year everything has turned horribly wrong. His move to give John Buchanan the free reign about the cricketing matters has spelled disaster. Their move to remove Saurav Ganguly from the captaincy at the 11th hour destroyed the team spirit. I blame Shahrukh more for it. He was unable to gauge the tremendous ill-will this move will generate. Suddenly he alienated himself from the millions of his fans and followers of the team. You cannot buy a Kolkata team and insult Kolkata's favorite son. The tournament won’t be played in South Africa every year, next year you have to come to Kolkata again and have to request these fans to support you.
But this year’s disastrous campaign cannot be the only reason for him to suddenly losing all his interest? How can you possibly desert your own ship and hide in the comforts of your home and that too after making such lofty statements. You mentioned in your blog that you love your players like your son. So would you desert your son, if God forbid, he fails in something he does? He himself wrote to his team in his blog that ‘It is not about how hard you hit, how well you can take a hit’. He himself preached his team that ‘you can loose a game but don’t be a loser’. Shahrukh it seems you don’t preach what you follow, and since you couldn’t take the hit well, can we call you a ‘LOOSER’?
The problem is Shahrukh was habituated being called the King of Bollywood by the press. He is used to all the adulations and hysteria he creates wherever he goes and whatever he does. He played larger than life characters in his movies over and over again. He probably started believing he can win everything and everybody with his charm. But this is sport, and if you are not sincere you will not win in sport. Shahrukh by flying back home in the middle of the tournament, talking about selling the team, has proved that he was not sincere. I am sure millions of his erstwhile fans will not forgive him for making them believe otherwise.
With all this news floating around, it makes me and everyone wonder what was the motive of Shahrukh Khan to initially jump into this IPL Bandwagon? Is it really because of his love for sport? Is it because he was close to the BCCI power center and couldn’t refuse their request, as his name definitely meant lot of publicity for the newly conceptualized tournament? Is it because he wanted IPL to be the vehicle to increase his political clout? Is it because he wanted to be one up against his Bollywood competitors? Or, is it because he wanted to promote the brand SHAHRUKH KHAN?
He has given thousands of bytes in front of the Camera emphasizing how much he loves sport, how it was not about making money, how he plans to gradually invest for the promotion of some other sport in the future. Listening him rant and rave about his noble thoughts and motives, we actually started believing him; He was enthusiastic about his new plaything and we read about the numerous sleepless nights he spent trying to perfect every aspect of his team. His team didn’t really kick up the storm on the cricket grounds (apart from the 1st match against Bangalore), but the passion was there and the fans were behind the team. So we thought Shahrukh was happy.
But this year everything has turned horribly wrong. His move to give John Buchanan the free reign about the cricketing matters has spelled disaster. Their move to remove Saurav Ganguly from the captaincy at the 11th hour destroyed the team spirit. I blame Shahrukh more for it. He was unable to gauge the tremendous ill-will this move will generate. Suddenly he alienated himself from the millions of his fans and followers of the team. You cannot buy a Kolkata team and insult Kolkata's favorite son. The tournament won’t be played in South Africa every year, next year you have to come to Kolkata again and have to request these fans to support you.
But this year’s disastrous campaign cannot be the only reason for him to suddenly losing all his interest? How can you possibly desert your own ship and hide in the comforts of your home and that too after making such lofty statements. You mentioned in your blog that you love your players like your son. So would you desert your son, if God forbid, he fails in something he does? He himself wrote to his team in his blog that ‘It is not about how hard you hit, how well you can take a hit’. He himself preached his team that ‘you can loose a game but don’t be a loser’. Shahrukh it seems you don’t preach what you follow, and since you couldn’t take the hit well, can we call you a ‘LOOSER’?
The problem is Shahrukh was habituated being called the King of Bollywood by the press. He is used to all the adulations and hysteria he creates wherever he goes and whatever he does. He played larger than life characters in his movies over and over again. He probably started believing he can win everything and everybody with his charm. But this is sport, and if you are not sincere you will not win in sport. Shahrukh by flying back home in the middle of the tournament, talking about selling the team, has proved that he was not sincere. I am sure millions of his erstwhile fans will not forgive him for making them believe otherwise.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
KKR - Settling for the Last Position?
There is a limit to everything. Before each match I pray, that this will the match in which KKR will turn around. But how long can you hope or pray? KKR team has become the joke of the season and everyone is laughing at its expense. Shahrukh has produced a blockbuster comedy, just by being himself. Every News Paper , every Web Site , every Blogger is spewing venom about the KKR team, reading everything that is being written, I am feeling numb. Imagine if this is the situation of a Fan, what will be the situation of the Owner, Director of Coaches, CEO, Players and everyone who is attached to the team, I am sure they are brain dead by now. Everyone may beg to disagree, KKR's director of coaches was brain dead all along they would argue.
The Knight Riders are not the strongest on the paper and their team formation is flawed. But the strongest team doesn't necessarily win always. We have seen what happened to Deccan Chargers last year and what Rajasthan Royals achieved. The lack of skill and ability can be overcome with Passion, Determination and Will to excel. We have seen many mediocre players excel or atleast rise to the occasion with the help of sheer passion, many underdogs beating the favorites. But Buchanan & Co. nipped that possibility in the bud by removing Saurav from the captaincy and making McCullum the captain and that too at the 11th hour. The way the whole saga was handled, it only managed to destroy the team’s morale. I always thought Shahrukh was an intelligent man, but his stance on this matter makes me think otherwise.
Everyone makes mistakes but you have to learn from your mistakes. But Buchanan and Co are too proud to even accept their mistakes, let alone learn from them. You don't have to be a Physiatrist to understand that McCullum is reeling under the pressure of handing 3 responsibilities - Opening the Batting and giving the team a flying start, Wicketkeeping and Captaining the side. But we still don't see any effort to change. Even for the sake of change he could be demoted in the batting order to allow his nerves to settle down. With Chris Gayle in the team, it was at the best interest of the team that a solid player be sent to open with Gayle and given the task of scoring only a run a ball. Would that be too difficult for Akash Chopra or even Buchanan's favourite Brad Hodge?? Mindless team selection, Mindless Batting Order and Mindless Bowling Changes is hurting the team. If you start counting the atrocious decisions taken by the team management, defying all cricketing logic, it would be staggering number. Mccullum would be happy if he could score that many runs in a match. It continued even today. On a spinning wicket Ajantha Mendis was not given a match. Laxmiratan, who bowled so wel in the last match, was not given to bowl. Why Saurav in the 5th over? Questions, questions and more questions but you will never get an answer. The standard line from the management will be 'If these decisions were successful everyone would have been praising us'. Sure everyone would be praising, but there is big IF in between. If everything that doesn't happen normally start happening who knows what would have happened? Confused...right???
Shahrukh Khan couldn't take it any more, and finally realizing that there is also a limit to the negative publicity he can take flew back to India. Suddenly he has become the most responsible Indian Citizen. I heard he will be back only if the team starts winning. In the mean time he will probably just write blogs in the KKR website to inspire his team. Shahrukh you must have heard the adage "Drastic situations calls for drastic measures" if this is not a drastic situation, then what is?
Just read the statments made by your team management and you should have a fair understanding of how murky their thoughts have become. Some clear thinking personality should take charge as soon as possible.
1. Joy Bhattacharjee says "John has too much respect in Sanjay and Aakash and their abilities to have them hang around if he does not think they will play". Hilarious isn't it? If they have the ability to demand Johns respect, why will they not play???
2. John Buchanan says "The team is becoming stiff because of the HardTraining that they have done, we need more flexibility". How enlightening. Your idea of flexibility - Brendon at Number 1, Gayle Number 2, Hodge 3 and Ganguly 4 for match after match without considering the opponent, match conditions??
3. Brendon Says "If I can't take the team to the semis, I will quit." If??? When will you know that you have not made it to the Semis? On 22nd May?? When the Semis will be played and you will be back in NewZeeland. If your team is not the tournament, then are you quitting from the next years team??
KKR has been playing matches every alternate day. It has now 2 days between the matches. What can they do next to revigorate themselves? They have tried everything - Bonding session after a match, time out at the beach to relax. But will it bring their mind back into the Game?
The Knight Riders are not the strongest on the paper and their team formation is flawed. But the strongest team doesn't necessarily win always. We have seen what happened to Deccan Chargers last year and what Rajasthan Royals achieved. The lack of skill and ability can be overcome with Passion, Determination and Will to excel. We have seen many mediocre players excel or atleast rise to the occasion with the help of sheer passion, many underdogs beating the favorites. But Buchanan & Co. nipped that possibility in the bud by removing Saurav from the captaincy and making McCullum the captain and that too at the 11th hour. The way the whole saga was handled, it only managed to destroy the team’s morale. I always thought Shahrukh was an intelligent man, but his stance on this matter makes me think otherwise.
Everyone makes mistakes but you have to learn from your mistakes. But Buchanan and Co are too proud to even accept their mistakes, let alone learn from them. You don't have to be a Physiatrist to understand that McCullum is reeling under the pressure of handing 3 responsibilities - Opening the Batting and giving the team a flying start, Wicketkeeping and Captaining the side. But we still don't see any effort to change. Even for the sake of change he could be demoted in the batting order to allow his nerves to settle down. With Chris Gayle in the team, it was at the best interest of the team that a solid player be sent to open with Gayle and given the task of scoring only a run a ball. Would that be too difficult for Akash Chopra or even Buchanan's favourite Brad Hodge?? Mindless team selection, Mindless Batting Order and Mindless Bowling Changes is hurting the team. If you start counting the atrocious decisions taken by the team management, defying all cricketing logic, it would be staggering number. Mccullum would be happy if he could score that many runs in a match. It continued even today. On a spinning wicket Ajantha Mendis was not given a match. Laxmiratan, who bowled so wel in the last match, was not given to bowl. Why Saurav in the 5th over? Questions, questions and more questions but you will never get an answer. The standard line from the management will be 'If these decisions were successful everyone would have been praising us'. Sure everyone would be praising, but there is big IF in between. If everything that doesn't happen normally start happening who knows what would have happened? Confused...right???
Shahrukh Khan couldn't take it any more, and finally realizing that there is also a limit to the negative publicity he can take flew back to India. Suddenly he has become the most responsible Indian Citizen. I heard he will be back only if the team starts winning. In the mean time he will probably just write blogs in the KKR website to inspire his team. Shahrukh you must have heard the adage "Drastic situations calls for drastic measures" if this is not a drastic situation, then what is?
Just read the statments made by your team management and you should have a fair understanding of how murky their thoughts have become. Some clear thinking personality should take charge as soon as possible.
1. Joy Bhattacharjee says "John has too much respect in Sanjay and Aakash and their abilities to have them hang around if he does not think they will play". Hilarious isn't it? If they have the ability to demand Johns respect, why will they not play???
2. John Buchanan says "The team is becoming stiff because of the HardTraining that they have done, we need more flexibility". How enlightening. Your idea of flexibility - Brendon at Number 1, Gayle Number 2, Hodge 3 and Ganguly 4 for match after match without considering the opponent, match conditions??
3. Brendon Says "If I can't take the team to the semis, I will quit." If??? When will you know that you have not made it to the Semis? On 22nd May?? When the Semis will be played and you will be back in NewZeeland. If your team is not the tournament, then are you quitting from the next years team??
KKR has been playing matches every alternate day. It has now 2 days between the matches. What can they do next to revigorate themselves? They have tried everything - Bonding session after a match, time out at the beach to relax. But will it bring their mind back into the Game?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Buchanan - Will he be shown the door?
What are emotions that you feel when you think about Shahrukh in the context of IPL? If I ask this to the people from Bengal, I am sure the answer I will get is 'Anger', 'Anger' and 'Anger'. But I pity him. Just imagine how he feels when he sees his dreams being shattered, his team being thrashed on the field and all over the media his decision to allow Buchanan to make his team the gueanea pig for his experiments, ridiculed. He still has to smile, show 'Thumbs Up' to the spectators and put up a brave face in front of the camera. Every time he hears his teams theme song 'Korbo, Lorbo Jitbo re', it must be gut wrenching for him. Can he exert his influence on the media moguls and take all the advertisements involving his Galant Knight Riders off air ?
The Director of Coaches of his team wanted absolute control, as enjoyed by Alex Ferguson over Manchester United. He always compared Cricket with Soccer and him with Sir Alex. We observed that his attempt to emulate Sir Alex in excercising absolute control over his team didn't bring the result. it is ok trying to treat Cricket like Socceer, we don't mind at all, can't Shahrukh emulate Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea and throw out Buchanan in the middle of the tournament. That way Buchanan's demand to be treated like a Soccer coach will be met too, he will be compared to Louis Phillipe Scholari.
But even if Buchanan stays, it is evident that his Cricketting strategies won't work. So how can he make himself useful?
Here are some suggesitons:
1. He can start creating a list of experts he will need for the next season. The open positions are:
a. Appeal Coach (Train the players how to appeal)
b. Running Between the Wickets Coach
c. Catching On your own Bowling Expert
d. Catching at the outfield Expert
e. Slip Catching Expert
f. Numerous Assistant Director of Coaches - They will train the coaches how to coach the players.
It will be a long list I am sure.
2. He is a talent spotter par excellence. Remember he spotted the talent of Akash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar in the 20/20 format and after giving them one match each spotted the lack of talent. He can hone his talent spotting skills by becoming the Casting Director for the next Red Chillies Entertainment Movie.
Shahrukh are you listening??
The Director of Coaches of his team wanted absolute control, as enjoyed by Alex Ferguson over Manchester United. He always compared Cricket with Soccer and him with Sir Alex. We observed that his attempt to emulate Sir Alex in excercising absolute control over his team didn't bring the result. it is ok trying to treat Cricket like Socceer, we don't mind at all, can't Shahrukh emulate Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea and throw out Buchanan in the middle of the tournament. That way Buchanan's demand to be treated like a Soccer coach will be met too, he will be compared to Louis Phillipe Scholari.
But even if Buchanan stays, it is evident that his Cricketting strategies won't work. So how can he make himself useful?
Here are some suggesitons:
1. He can start creating a list of experts he will need for the next season. The open positions are:
a. Appeal Coach (Train the players how to appeal)
b. Running Between the Wickets Coach
c. Catching On your own Bowling Expert
d. Catching at the outfield Expert
e. Slip Catching Expert
f. Numerous Assistant Director of Coaches - They will train the coaches how to coach the players.
It will be a long list I am sure.
2. He is a talent spotter par excellence. Remember he spotted the talent of Akash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar in the 20/20 format and after giving them one match each spotted the lack of talent. He can hone his talent spotting skills by becoming the Casting Director for the next Red Chillies Entertainment Movie.
Shahrukh are you listening??
Monday, April 27, 2009
Will this make Shahrukh realize?
Mumbai Indians today thrashed the KKR red and blue. What's sad is that talking to numerous KKR fans it seems they have lost all hope about this years campaign. All they want to do is ask a bunch of questions and make Shahrukh and Buchanan answer them.
Shahrukh, we know its your money, and you may decide to spend it, in whatever manner you want. It's your team, and may be winning the tournament is not as important to you as making money. Though you had many lofty and noble ideas when you invested your money in IPL. I remembr you said last year, that you love the sport, you want to develop and spread this game to every corner of the country and if in the process you earn some money it all the more better. I now think, were you telling the truth or all along you had a different agenda? Last year your team didn't do very well, but your fans were with you. Let me assure you, the way you handled this years campaign, even if your team does better than last year (It doesn't seem likely) your fans are mad at you.
Now lets take a look at the match. Sachin and Jayasuriya nearly killed the match in the first 10 overs. KKR did well to pull the things back in the next 10 overs of the Mumabai Innings, but their total was enough to hand KKR one of their biggest defeats. KKR team never looked to be in the match. I don't think this team has the fire power to score beyond 150. For this team to be able to win, their opponents need to collectibly fail.
At the end of the match the thought processes of the team members were in the following lines -
Brendon Mccullum - "Shit!!! I was unneccesarily lured into leading team, by the directors sweet talk. Gayle did the smart thing by not accepting it. Now I have made myself the laughing stock. Should I go and surrender the captaincy?"
Chris Gayle - "Thank God I didn't accept the Captaincy offer. Brendon is immatured and he became the guinea pig for the director's experiments"
Saurav Ganguly - "Hmmmm...Mr. Buchanan where are your big theories now? Now it looks like you have done me a favour by taking away the captaincy. Now everyone is cursing you and my fan base feels more strongly for me.
Shahrukh Khan - "Thank God the elections are on 30th April. I will use that excuse to return to India and will not return soon. It is so difficult to keep smiling when your team is being thrashed left, right and center."
John Buchanan - "The key to success is sound preparation. We will use this years tournament for our preparation for 2010"
More on Buchanan's strategy on my next bolg.
Shahrukh, we know its your money, and you may decide to spend it, in whatever manner you want. It's your team, and may be winning the tournament is not as important to you as making money. Though you had many lofty and noble ideas when you invested your money in IPL. I remembr you said last year, that you love the sport, you want to develop and spread this game to every corner of the country and if in the process you earn some money it all the more better. I now think, were you telling the truth or all along you had a different agenda? Last year your team didn't do very well, but your fans were with you. Let me assure you, the way you handled this years campaign, even if your team does better than last year (It doesn't seem likely) your fans are mad at you.
Now lets take a look at the match. Sachin and Jayasuriya nearly killed the match in the first 10 overs. KKR did well to pull the things back in the next 10 overs of the Mumabai Innings, but their total was enough to hand KKR one of their biggest defeats. KKR team never looked to be in the match. I don't think this team has the fire power to score beyond 150. For this team to be able to win, their opponents need to collectibly fail.
At the end of the match the thought processes of the team members were in the following lines -
Brendon Mccullum - "Shit!!! I was unneccesarily lured into leading team, by the directors sweet talk. Gayle did the smart thing by not accepting it. Now I have made myself the laughing stock. Should I go and surrender the captaincy?"
Chris Gayle - "Thank God I didn't accept the Captaincy offer. Brendon is immatured and he became the guinea pig for the director's experiments"
Saurav Ganguly - "Hmmmm...Mr. Buchanan where are your big theories now? Now it looks like you have done me a favour by taking away the captaincy. Now everyone is cursing you and my fan base feels more strongly for me.
Shahrukh Khan - "Thank God the elections are on 30th April. I will use that excuse to return to India and will not return soon. It is so difficult to keep smiling when your team is being thrashed left, right and center."
John Buchanan - "The key to success is sound preparation. We will use this years tournament for our preparation for 2010"
More on Buchanan's strategy on my next bolg.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
KKR - Can they Bounce back?
From Buchanan's Notebook -
The weather forecast seems to say that there won't be any rain tomorrow. So there is no chance of getting 'One' assured point. We have to play for 'Two' points then and my strategy will be geared for that. After trimming down the squad from 54 to 20 I have a better feel of the team. The options are now limited and there is less scope of confusion. I don't have more than 2 players for each postion and I can choose a player by flipping a coin. Like who should go at No.3, Heads - Ganguly and Tails - Hodge. Ohh!! Its so easy. Who should be the spinner Ajantha or Murali, again a flip of the coin. As I say in my lectures to the corporate honchos - "Being Decisive is the key to success". When you can decide by flipping a coin why waste time? And there is 50% probability that your decision will be right. Not bad at all.
The weather forecast seems to say that there won't be any rain tomorrow. So there is no chance of getting 'One' assured point. We have to play for 'Two' points then and my strategy will be geared for that. After trimming down the squad from 54 to 20 I have a better feel of the team. The options are now limited and there is less scope of confusion. I don't have more than 2 players for each postion and I can choose a player by flipping a coin. Like who should go at No.3, Heads - Ganguly and Tails - Hodge. Ohh!! Its so easy. Who should be the spinner Ajantha or Murali, again a flip of the coin. As I say in my lectures to the corporate honchos - "Being Decisive is the key to success". When you can decide by flipping a coin why waste time? And there is 50% probability that your decision will be right. Not bad at all.
- x -
I tried to predict the KKR team before the Chennai match but rain played a spoil sport. There is no prediction for rain tomorrow and it seems we are going to have a full match tomorrow. Mumbai Indians, though losing to Deccan Chargers in their previous match still looks the more balanced side of the two. Their team has a settled look and I don't think there would be much change in their team. They are waiting for Jayasuriya to fire at the top of the order, and KKR Fans will hope he will not choose tomorrow match to find his form back. Sachin is in a good nick and JP Duminy also played well. Their bowlers are in a fabulous form with Malinga looking threatening and Zaheer and Harbhajan very solid. Kolkata on the other hand didn't get a chance to test their strengths and weaknesses against Chennai, so they will have to think the Rajasthan match as their staring point. I was hoping Akash Chopra will be given the opening slot and McCullum coming down the order to give the middle order some boost, but the team management has send him back. Real moral boosting strategy I must say, that too in the middle of the tournament. The owners and the team management are more concerned about the blogger, FakeIPLPlayer and him revealing strategies of the team. Someone should tell Mr. Buchanan that Shane Warne didn't read the blog before deciding that Kamran Khan should bowl the Super Over.
First Week and Buchanans' Report
The organizers boasted it to be the most awaited crickeiting event of the world, and we are already in the second week of the it. The last one week passed really quickly for the people who are following IPL2. Ironoically the reason for which IPL was not taken to England, the weather in South Africa is playing spoilt sprort by already causing 2 matches to be abandoned without a single ball being bowled and truncating 2 matches badly. We have also not seen many close matches except the one played between KKR and Rajanthan Royal. So what did the first week of IPL offer to the cricket followers around the world and what are the topics that are being talked about most?
1. IPL2 has broken some Myths and made some cricketing brains eat humble pie. Example - 1 Day Cricket and 20/20 a game for the youngsters and doesn't have a place for people in the wrong side of 30. Brilliant cricketing minds like Greg Chappel, John Buchanan , Ray Jennings (Bangalore Knight riders coach) beleives this theory. So lets see the name of the players who made a mark in the first week -
Mathew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly - have all contributed heavily. All of them except Adam Gilchrist have been accused of holding on to their spot even when their shelflife expired. Comparing Kevin Petersons contribution to Rahul Dravid, I hope Ray Jennings and Vijay Mallya feels ashamed for a moment or two in the privacy of their room. Class they say is permanent and you cannot pull down a classy player.
2. Resurgence of Deccan Chargers - The team who inspite of having some big names last year, finished at the bottom position last year. They have made some minor changes in the team, changed teir captain, concetrated on their preparation and came back roaring to win 3 consecutive matches and occupying the top position. Whether they will be able to sustain their performance, only time can tell but they have made a bold oppening statement.
3. Fake IPL Player - The Blog which is provinding some inside scoop of the most talked about, most high profile franchise KKR have caught the imagination of the whole cricketing world. Every one starting from the Journalists, KKR Team Management and members of the rival franchaises are following it. The profession in which their owner Sharukh belongs beleives 'Even Negative Publicity is Publicity'. He may learn the wrong way that this addage doesn't hold true in Cricket.
John Buchanan is keeping a low profile, but I am sure his notebook is already full with notes that he takes every day. He has submitted his first weeks report to the owner which reads like this:
Dear Mr. Khan,
I am sure that you are a releived man, since we got one point from our game against Chennai. I am sure you would agree that 'One' is better than 'Zero'. The weather gods are on our side and we will get some more rains and as a result some more points in the future and with some luck we might win some matches too (with the help of weather god again).
As you know I always keep myself abreast about the world events, I am aware of the recession and the financial crunch everyone is feeling. So to save our cost I have decided that we should Sendoff (Read it as LayOff) some Management Staff and Players back to their home. That way we can save on the fooding and lodging of these extra people. The most notable of them are:
a. Jaydeep Mukherjee - (Assistant Coach) - His role was that of an interpreter actually, so that he can interpret my strategies to the indian players. I have found that since my strategies are confusing anyway, we dont need an interpreter.
b. Fielding Coach - I have found that even with fielding coaches you cannot improve Saurav's fielding. So he is being send off.
c. Wicketkeeping Coach - With Wriddhiman injuerd, he only has Mccullum to train. Mccullum also needs more training on his captaincy and batting, for which I am spending more and more time him, so the wicketkeeping coach is underutilized. His timesheet is a proof to that. So he is being send off.
d. Throwing Coach - I am not sure, we have time to learn this skill as we have matches every alternate days. So he is being send back.
e. We are also trimming the team size from 54 to 30. You probably don't even know the names of the players we bought and their expertize (I myself can't remember), so I am not bothering you with all the details.
I am retaining Michael Buchanan who is the Strength coach for the team. He will now spend more time with you, so that you have the strength to face the Indian Public when we retrun to India.
In the meanwhile I will spend more time thinking about new strategies for the second week.
Always thinking and taking Notes,
John Buchanan
Director of Coaches.
1. IPL2 has broken some Myths and made some cricketing brains eat humble pie. Example - 1 Day Cricket and 20/20 a game for the youngsters and doesn't have a place for people in the wrong side of 30. Brilliant cricketing minds like Greg Chappel, John Buchanan , Ray Jennings (Bangalore Knight riders coach) beleives this theory. So lets see the name of the players who made a mark in the first week -
Mathew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly - have all contributed heavily. All of them except Adam Gilchrist have been accused of holding on to their spot even when their shelflife expired. Comparing Kevin Petersons contribution to Rahul Dravid, I hope Ray Jennings and Vijay Mallya feels ashamed for a moment or two in the privacy of their room. Class they say is permanent and you cannot pull down a classy player.
2. Resurgence of Deccan Chargers - The team who inspite of having some big names last year, finished at the bottom position last year. They have made some minor changes in the team, changed teir captain, concetrated on their preparation and came back roaring to win 3 consecutive matches and occupying the top position. Whether they will be able to sustain their performance, only time can tell but they have made a bold oppening statement.
3. Fake IPL Player - The Blog which is provinding some inside scoop of the most talked about, most high profile franchise KKR have caught the imagination of the whole cricketing world. Every one starting from the Journalists, KKR Team Management and members of the rival franchaises are following it. The profession in which their owner Sharukh belongs beleives 'Even Negative Publicity is Publicity'. He may learn the wrong way that this addage doesn't hold true in Cricket.
John Buchanan is keeping a low profile, but I am sure his notebook is already full with notes that he takes every day. He has submitted his first weeks report to the owner which reads like this:
Dear Mr. Khan,
I am sure that you are a releived man, since we got one point from our game against Chennai. I am sure you would agree that 'One' is better than 'Zero'. The weather gods are on our side and we will get some more rains and as a result some more points in the future and with some luck we might win some matches too (with the help of weather god again).
As you know I always keep myself abreast about the world events, I am aware of the recession and the financial crunch everyone is feeling. So to save our cost I have decided that we should Sendoff (Read it as LayOff) some Management Staff and Players back to their home. That way we can save on the fooding and lodging of these extra people. The most notable of them are:
a. Jaydeep Mukherjee - (Assistant Coach) - His role was that of an interpreter actually, so that he can interpret my strategies to the indian players. I have found that since my strategies are confusing anyway, we dont need an interpreter.
b. Fielding Coach - I have found that even with fielding coaches you cannot improve Saurav's fielding. So he is being send off.
c. Wicketkeeping Coach - With Wriddhiman injuerd, he only has Mccullum to train. Mccullum also needs more training on his captaincy and batting, for which I am spending more and more time him, so the wicketkeeping coach is underutilized. His timesheet is a proof to that. So he is being send off.
d. Throwing Coach - I am not sure, we have time to learn this skill as we have matches every alternate days. So he is being send back.
e. We are also trimming the team size from 54 to 30. You probably don't even know the names of the players we bought and their expertize (I myself can't remember), so I am not bothering you with all the details.
I am retaining Michael Buchanan who is the Strength coach for the team. He will now spend more time with you, so that you have the strength to face the Indian Public when we retrun to India.
In the meanwhile I will spend more time thinking about new strategies for the second week.
Always thinking and taking Notes,
John Buchanan
Director of Coaches.
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