 John Buchanan has created a big controversy by naming some of the great Indian
cricketers in his book, "The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty20"
as misfits for Twenty20 cricket. He said that Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman are not suited to play this shortest
format of the game and should quit doing so.
While appreciating Tendulkar for being the kind of batsman he has been for
India over a period of time, he also questioned whether he has the "power
and domination, an ability to take the bowlers on while being creative"
to be a top three batsman in a batting line up for T20 cricket. He said that
"Sachin Tendulkar is still a great player but not in this arena of T20."
He also cited the case of how the four cricketers were expected to be the lynchpins
around which their teams would revolve, with the ability to play match-winning
innings on the odd occasion as well. Criticising Dravid, he said that despite
been a team-man and a gentleman to the core, he is not suited to this format
of the game and this was reflected in the early part of the IPL when he "could
not score a single run in the early rounds of the IPL"
He also took a dig at the franchise owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore
by saying, "I am certain Dravid's performances were also affected by the
off-field drama created by his franchise owner Vijay Mallya"
Apart from the senior men, he also called Yuvraj Singh as one wanting
to be the next Sourav Ganguly, but not having the charisma to carry it off.
He also said that in his interaction with the Kings XI Punjab coach, Tom Moody, it was revealed that Yuvraj would never carry his cricket kit at
the end of net sessions because he was used to someone else doing it for him.
For Harbhajan, Buchanan said that the off-spinner often gave it all verbally
to the opposition, but when it was the turn of taking it, he wasn't able to
do so and would run under some or the other camouflage.
His potshots were not restricted to the current Indian cricketers only, but
had Sunil Gavaskar in the mix as well. He called Gavaskar as the one
who was biased by tradition.
However, he did praise the former Indian skipper Ganguly, when he said that
"Ganguly showed that Indian cricket could stand up for itself. He is similar
in that way to Ian Chappell who stood up for what he believed and was not afraid
to take on the administration."
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