Why Knight Riders coach John Boka-known must go

The seven deadly sins of Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Boka-known (boka means stupid in Bengali) and why he must go:

1. For floating the four-captain theory: It’s surely the dumbest theory in the history of cricket. The last thing that a team, which certainly isn’t the strongest on paper, needs is man-made confusion and demotivation. But Boka-known’s, oops, Buchanan’s theory did exactly that. At a time when the team should have been focusing on strategies to synergise its performance and outsmart its opponent, Buchanan’s non-theory ensured that KKR’s team spirit had taken a free hit before a ball was bowled.

2. For making Brendon McCullum the captain: In retrospect, it appears that the idea of having four captain was only a way of getting Sourav Ganguly out of the leadership role. But why McCullum? True, he can be a blazing bat, but what leadership quality has he ever displayed at home or abroad? Undeniably Buchanan’s initiative has weighed down a mercurial batsman with the crushing load of responsibility. Since he became captain, his scores are: 1, 21, 3, 1. And, by the way, has anybody seen any intelligent, pro-active move made by McCullum in any of these games. And one is not even getting into his using rookie trundler Anureet Singh in the last over against Rajasthan Royals and things like that. It appears the upgrading of McCullum has more to do with the Kiwi’s lack of experience, because it enables Buchanan to wield real power.

3. For downsizing Sourav: The Ganguly-Buchanan story is pretty similar to the Ganguly-Greg saga. Greg too wanted to control the team like a football manager does, forgetting that cricket and soccer are two different games. And he was out to prove that all ills in the national team originate from the Bengal left-hander. Initially, everybody listened to Greg. In this case too, owner Shah Rukh threw his lot with the coach. With IPL2 moving to South Africa, it was easier to downsize Ganguly without any fear of a public backlash. The deed was done. Except that the script has gone all wrong for Buchanan after that. Ganguly hasn’t faded away as expected by the Australian coach. On the contrary, he has been one of the few performers in the team. Go through the overall KKR record of IPL1 and IPl2. Ganguly has been the best KKR player by miles. So why has he been relegated to No 4?

4. For his touching faith in Brad Hodge: The Australian coach’s faith in the podgy middle-order Australian batsman is touching. Before he came out to bat against Mumbai Indians on Monday, Hodge’s IPL strike rate was in the 80s. That is like having a No 3 ODI batsman with a strike rate of 50. Hodge is yet to get a single 35-plus score in the eight IPL games he has played. A compact player, he seems to have no fourth gear, imperative for Twenty20. But Buchanan continues to persist with him.

5. For being clueless about the lower middle-order: It is one thing for the middle order to fail. It is another matter being clueless about it. Look at KKR’s 5-7 in the four games it has played in IPL2: against Deccan Chargers (A Chopra, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, M Henriques), against Team Punjab (Yashpal Singh, Chopra, Henrique); against Rajasthan Royals (Ganguly, Sanjay Bangar, Yashpal) and against Mumbai Indians (Yashpal, A Ghosh, Shukla). By the way, who’s A Ghosh? All I can say: It isn’t me. And, by the way, whatever happened to Debabrata Das who was reasonably successful last season?

6. For sending back Chopra and Bangar: Isn’t it strange that with the lower middle-order in such disarray, the think-tank feels confident enough to send back Bangar and Chopra. In all fairness, the two shouldn’t have been bought in the first place. Chopra is a rare batsman who dances down the track against spin only to offer a defensive shot, as he did against the Deccan Chargers. But why send them back when it means that KKR is left scrounging for the likes of A Ghosh. And if Ghosh deserves a second chance, why don’t Chopra or Bangar, who are at least proven internationals. And has Buchanan thought about the decision’s impact on the remaining KKR players? Can they really perform with the sword of being sent back hanging above their heads?

7. For being unsure about team’s bowling strength: Buchanan is clueless about his team’s bowling strength. Other coaches were much quicker in discovering the potential of slow bowlers on South African pitches. It took the KKR think tank three games to discover Ajantha Mendis. It was Mendis who put RR on the backfoot. His 4-0-19-2 was the  first match-turning spell by a KKR bowler this season. Agreed he got clobbered by Yusuf Pathan in the Superover (whether he was the right choice for that specific job is another question only Buchanan can answer) and by Tendulkar-Jayasuriya in the following game. But he remains a wicket-taker whom lesser players find impossible to handle. Again, Murali Karthik, an experienced Twenty20 bowler, was left out after two games where his figures were 4-0-23-0 and 1-0-7-0. Why?

Agreed, KKR doesn’t have the best bowling attack in IPL. But it isn’t the worst either. Don’t forget they also have Moses Henrique, Moshrafe Mortaza (why buy somebody with so much fanfare if you don’t play him?) and Ishant Sharma. How about a bowling attack of Ishant, Henrique or Mortaza, Mendis and Karthik? With Ganguly, Gayle and Shukla there to do the fifth bowler’s job. But to do that, Buchanan will have to drop Hodge. The four foreigners in this playing XI would be: Gayle, McCullum, Henrique/Mortaza and Mendis.

Solution: There’s only one way to save the season for KKR. Sack Buchanan. Now. Replace him with anybody, even Mandira Bedi. But Buchanan must go down under. There’s nothing he can contribute positively to this team. Sacking him will not make KKR the winner of IPL2. But it will improve the dressing room atmosphere and bring some passion back into the side.

If he cannot be sacked, then I have a ‘phony’ theory, rather appropriate in times of fake bloggers, for KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan to consider: Why not have four coaches and one captain? Surely having 25% of Buchanan is better than having 100% of him.

Nadal advances to semi-finals of Rome Masters

World number one and top seed Rafael Nadal progressed to the semi-finals of the ATP Rome Masters clay court tournament after a gruelling 6-3

Rafael Nadal hits a return to Fernando Verdasco at the Rome Masters.

, 6-3 victory against sixth seed Fernando Verdasco on Friday.

The scoreline did not do justice to a keenly contested match that lasted 1hr 50min and in which Verdasco had more than enough chances to cause an upset.

The final statistics told the story of a match in which the former three-time champion Nadal took his opportunities while Verdasco let his slip by.

Verdasco hit 20 winners to just six by Nadal but made more than twice as many unforced errors — 41 to just 20 from the world’s best player.

And both men forced six break points throughout the match but while Nadal converted four of his, Verdasco managed only one break.

The 25-year-old sixth seed started badly, double faulting to hand Nadal a break in the opening game.

However, he hit straight back as Nadal played a dreadful service game and was broken to love.

The top seed soon clicked into gear, though, and broke Verdasco twice more to take the set.

The main difference in the opener was that Nadal was massacring Verdasco’s second serve, winning 78 percent of the points when his compatriot missed his first service.

In the second set Verdasco had plenty of opportunities to get his nose in front but he missed three break point chances in the first game and two more at 2-2.

Even so, he was trading wilfully with Nadal from the back of the court and but for his high unforced error count he looked capable of beating the king of clay.

But at 4-3 to Nadal, Verdasco missed two simple volleys as he gifted his compatriot a break, despite having led 40-15.

He called for the trainer at the change of ends and his knee seemed to be giving him some pain, so it was unsurprising that he wilted easily in the final game.

Nadal took his win streak on clay to 28 matches since he was beaten here a year ago in the second round by Juan Carlos Ferrero.