No IPL team has yet managed as much air space before the start of season two of the tournament besides the Kolkata Knight Riders. And that is not entirely because they have an opinionated coach in John Buchanan nor a charismatic team owner in Shahrukh Khan but for a tale of intrigue. An Australian pushing Sourav off the throne may seem like a déjà vu. But this story is tad different from the first.

(Read Cricket360 related article "Sourav One among Several KKR Skippers?")

 
The first story written about three and a half years ago was associated with national pride; emotions while the second and the latest stems from IPL cash and crass commercialization of the game. Money only understands performance and not the variants of sports. The logic is simple, perform or perish. So John Buchanan squarely blamed Sourav for KKR’s failures in the first season. He also decided that KKR will be manned by one boss but four captains. It is like four journalists writing one match report or having four CEOs for one job. Designating responsibility may work in some scenario but this perhaps is not the ideal set up. Even South Africa’s coach Mickey Arthur has questioned the idea. John Buchanan will rarely find backers for his new idea.

Far away in Kiwi-land and in the West Indies, Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle are fighting for their national pride. They are still to learn about the Buchanan theory. They are being touted as Sourav’s alternatives. And will know about the theory of alternatives when the team gets together in South Africa in next ten days or so.
 
Meanwhile back in the city of the Prince, emotions are running high. Kolkata is known for its passionate cricket fans and even passionate Sourav Ganguly fans. Sourav perhaps evokes as much emotion as his team owner Shahrukh Khan does. So it was this emotional connect of ‘Korbo’ Lorbo, Jeetbo’ that brought a 10,000 to the turnstiles of T20 last season. Perhaps the franchise’s popularity lay in its understanding the city and its people.

But that will not matter much in the Season 2 with IPL moving out of the country. Even if Sourav’s fans refuse to tune on to the T20 extravaganza, SRK’s fans surely will. And the marketing whiz of the Badshah will make sure that their coffers swell. However commerce will be linked with success of the brand which will depend on wins. And victories will be determined by the right moves. Shane Warne has never been a fan of Super-coach Buchanan. If grapevine is to be believed, Ricky Ponting opted out of this bash because he was not assured of a place in the first XI by Buchanan.

So will a theoretician coach who believes in going by the book work to bring victories for Kolkata Knight Riders in Season 2? Well that idea seems far fetched but as of now Buchanan’s rather unconventional ways have got men in uniform busy. The Kolkata Police is closely guarding the coach so that he does not become a target of errant fans.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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