By Ravi Kant Singh

 Kolkata Knight Riders are in a state of flux. The franchise needs a breath of fresh air and it can only come from where the team is based – at home in India.

The removal of John Buchanan was hardly a surprise after the way the ‘Prince of Kolkata’ Sourav Ganguly was treated. That it won the franchise hardly any admirers anywhere, let alone Bengal, was only to be expected but what is indeed a surprise is the continued fixation of the team management to try and rope in another coach from outside the shores.

The names being bandied about are Steve Waugh (who has a special link with Kolkata thanks to his association with Udayan), Michael Bevan and Dav Whatmore.

All three claim to know things Indian but it remains to be seen if they have it in them to handle a volatile outfit like the Knight Riders. The franchise has a talented mix of home and foreign players but somehow they never seem to gel.

And it’s here that the role of the coach becomes paramount. About time the McCollum’s and Gayle’s were introduced to Wriddhiman Saha’s and party so that KKR stops looking like a rag tag bunch of individuals rather than a cricket team working together and playing hard to win.

Buchanan has a chequered history as coach. Even when he was with Australia, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh made sure he knew who was in charge. And it was his falling out with Ricky Ponting finally led to his exit.

So, it not tough to imagine what kind of a relationship ‘Punter’ would have had with his former coach in a completely alien environment. And if that did not set the tone for a frosty player-coach relationship, nothing could and it was downhill all the way from then on.

Now that the KKR ownership looks to revamp, they would be much better off looking inwards – for someone who is more home-bred rather bring in somebody foreign with all the accompanying baggage.

The job of the coach is to communicate and prepare the players to perform on the field of play. And it’s the players’ job to play to win.

Simple isn’t it!