Former Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) coach John Buchanan was the one who didn't want Sourav Ganguly to be retained as captain of the side ahead of the 2009 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), revealed the team's ex middle-order batsman Aakash Chopra.
Chopra, who was part of the side for the first two seasons of the IPL, put the dispute between Buchanan and Ganguly, another such with an Australian coach in the left-hander's career, down to their unique working styles.
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"In the first year of IPL, there was John Buchanan [as coach], [fellow Australian] Ricky Ponting was also there," Chopra said on his Youtube channel. "Sourav Ganguly was the captain. I have seen this from close quarters – their relationship was alright, to begin with, but it worsened [with time]."
Buchanan, who was with the mighty Australian side for a long time, famously championed the cause for multiple captaincy theory to be adopted by the KKR, which obviously didn't have Ganguly's approval.
In March that year, Ganguly confirmed that he wasn't consulted about the new plan, whereas Buchanan, about nine years later, clarified there had been issues with the former India skipper's ways because "he did not have my support in T20 cricket".
"Buchanan’s way of working was different, and Sourav had a different temperament,” Chopra said. “In the end, he also wanted to remove Sourav Ganguly from captaincy, which actually happened the following season [in 2009, when Brendon McCullum was named captain], because in the first season, the team came sixth [on the points table], and then they came eighth when Sourav was not the captain."
But things changed upside down for both individuals after a disastrous season that saw KKR finish bottom of the points table in South Africa. In the aftermath of which, Buchanan was sacked as coach and Ganguly was reinstated as the team's captain ahead of IPL 2010.
"Eventually, John Buchanan had to leave," Chopra said. "Some of the things, because I was privy to that, were overstated, like they talked about making three captains, which was not the case. But, that’s what happens. If one thing is wrong, it becomes a domino effect, other things also go wrong, and it’s said that nothing was good during his leadership."
"But then, man-management … one thing that I had against him was that he gathered all his friends and associates there, the whole family had come in. There were a lot of [his] people, I mean, that did not go down very well."
"On the one hand, you carefully pick and choose players [for the squad], on the other hand, the whole family’s travelling with you as support staff. That was all happening. It left a little sour taste. It stands out like a sore thumb in KKR’s history," he added.
