Ricky Ponting thinks that there is some merit in John Buchanan’s theory of multiple captains for Kolkata Knight Riders. Buchanan had created a huge controversy a few days ago by suggesting that there would be several captains in the KKR IPL team. But later on he mellowed down his tone and said that there will be only one captain and four strategists. However, this was quick shocking for the Indian masses especially the people of West Bengal as they cannot see Sourav Ganguly sharing his captaincy with others. It received opposition from several quarters in the cricket fraternity but there were some takers too. Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakarra said that he was open to such an idea. Now the latest one to join the club is Australian captain Ricky Ponting who thinks there is some merit in Buchanan’s theory. Notably Buchanan was also the coach of the Aussie team during their World Cup win in 2007. Ponting also said that multiple captains would reduce the work load of captaincy and might help enhance the team performance. But he also said that a strategist would be more suitable because multiple captains cannot decide field placements easily.
It is also noteworthy that Ricky Ponting is a member of the Kolkata Knight Riders team but will not play IPL T20 season 2 as he has decided to spend some time with his family during the two weeks in which he is available. Let us wait and see how the multi-strategists theory works out.
Sri Lankan captain and member of IPL team Kings XI Punjab Sangakkara feels that Buchanan’s captaincy idea can help in the evolution of cricket. John Buchanan who is the the coach of IPL T20 team Kolkata Knight Riders had suggested that there would be division of duties within four captains in the KKR team. Buchanan concept for Indian Premier League season 2 had made him a source of hatred in Kolkata and West Bengal as the local people could not accept the fact that the powers of the Prince of Kolkata Sourav Ganguly would be diluted. Buchanan had given the suggestion that KKR players like Chris Gayle, Brendon Mccullum and David Hussey should be given captaining responsibility alongside Dada.
Though Buchanan did not find much support amongst the Indian public with his new idea but Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara feels that the concept is quite good. He believes that this concept might come in handy for T20 cricket as the evolving nature of the game requires changes in various aspects including captaincy. However, Sangakkara also said that there might be several problems too in such a concept as four different captains might have ego clashes in the field which might be harmful for the team.
Meanwhile, IPL 2 has not been very helpful for the Indian icons with many of the franchisees stripping the Indian captains of their captaincy. Gilchrist will be the full time captain of Deccan Chargers team in IPL T20 season 2 after the DC franchisees replaced VVS Laxman with Gilly last year. Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore Royal Challengers have dropped Dravid as the captain of the team and instead made way for Kevin Pietersen and Jacques Kallis. The justification given by most franchisees and coach is that these changes are inevitable as T20 is a more youth oriented game. However, only time and the IPL T20 season 2 will tell how these decisions turn out to be.
Kolkata Knight Riders had been one of the most popular teams in the first edition of IPL T20. Shahrukh Khan and his aggressive publicity had helped the team in gaining a lot of popularity although the team was not too good in terms of performance. Shahrukh had gone a step further in IPL season 2 and preparations were going on for Kolkata Knight Riders for a long time. He had even organized TV shows to pick up the cheerleaders for the KKT team. But there has been an unwanted controversy for the last few days with Buchanan saying he is not sure of retaining Sourav Ganguly as the captain of the team. This has resulted in a lot of anger and anguish in the state of West Bengal which had backed KKR to the hilt during IPL season 1. And this controversy might backfire for the Kolkata Knight Riders as many supporters of the team will not support the team to that extent. Ganguly is the Prince of Kolkata and decision against him is bound to result in the lose of support for the team. However, Dada can prove everybody including John Buchanan wrong by hitting the sixes and fours and showing that he is also a very good T20 player.
Lets wait for the coming days and see if this controversy is beneficial or detrimental to the KKR team in IPL t20 cricket season 2.
What do you think? Will this controversy backfire for KKR?
IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has officially announced the schedule of the IPL season 2 in South Africa. As mentioned in my previous post, Wanderers Stadium will host the IPL final, a semi final and six other matches while the opening match is at Cape Town. The match timings have been kept at 4 PM and 8 PM IST as promised by Lalit Modi.
Here is the exact schedule:
April 18: Rajasthan Royals (RR) v Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) (4 pm) at Cape Town; Mumbai Indians (MI) v Chennai Super Kings (CSK) (8 pm) at Cape Town
April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) v Deccan Chargers (DC) (4 pm) at Cape Town; Delhi Daredevils (DD) v Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) (8 pm) at Cape Town
April 20: RCB V CSK (4 pm) at Port Elizabeth
April 21: RR v MI (4 pm) at Durban; KKR v KXIP (8 pm) at Durban
April 22: DD v CSK (4 pm) at Durban; RCB v DC (8 pm) at Cape Town
April 23: KKR v RR (4 pm) at Port Elizabeth
April 24: KXIP v RCB (4 pm) at Johannesburg
April 25: KKR v CSK (4 pm) at Cape Town; DC v MI (8 pm) at Durban
April 26: RR v KXIP (4 pm) at Cape Town; RCB v DD (8 pm) Port Elizabeth
April 27: KKR v MI (4 pm) at Cape Town; CSK v DC (8 pm) at Durban
April 28: DD v RR (4 pm) at Pretoria
April 29: MI v KXIP (4 pm) at Durban; KKR v RCB (8 pm) at Durban
April 30: DD v DC (4 pm) at Pretoria; RR v CSK (8 pm) at Pretoria
May 1: RCB v KXIP (4 pm) at East London; MI v KKR (8 pm) at Durban
May 2: RR v DC (4 pm) at Johannesburg; CSK v DD (8 pm) at Port Elizabeth
May 3: MI v RCB (4 pm) at Durban; KXIP v KKR (8 pm) at East London
May 4: DC v CSK (4 pm) at Port Elizabeth
May 5: DD v KKR (4 pm) at Durban; KXIP v RR (8 pm) at Durban
May 6: MI v DC (4 pm) at Pretoria
May 7: KXIP v CSK (4 pm) at Pretoria; RCB v RR (8 pm) at Pretoria
May 8: DD v MI (4 pm) at East London
May 9: DC v KXIP (4 pm) at Bloemfontein; CSK v RR (8 pm) at Port Elizabeth
May 10: KKR v DD (4 pm) at East London; RCB v MI (8 pm) at Johannesburg
May 11: DC v RR (4 pm) at Bloemfontein
May 12: RCB v KKR (4 pm) at Pretoria; KXIP v MI (8 pm) at Pretoria
May 13: DC v DD (4 pm) at Durban
May 14: MI v RR (4 pm) at Durban; CSK v RCB (8 pm) at Durban
May 15: KXIP v DD (4 pm) at Kimberley
May 16: CSK v MI (4 pm) at Johannesburg; DC v KKR (8 pm) at Port Elizabeth
May 17: RR v DD (4 pm) at Kimberley; KXIP v DC (8 pm) at Johannesburg
May 18: CSK v KKR (4 pm) at Pretoria
May 19: DD v RCB (4 pm) at Johannesburg
May 20: CSK v KXIP (4 pm) at Durban; RR v KKR (8 pm) at Durban
May 21: DC v RCB (4 pm) at Pretoria; MI v DD (8 pm) at Pretoria
May 22: Semi Final 1 at Pretoria
May 23: Semi Final 2 at Johannesburg
May 24: Final at Johannesburg
