Help Buchanan Solve the Puzzle

Are we in the IPL or a Bollywood movie??

This is the puzzle inside John Buchanan's head that he hasn't been able to resolve since the day IPL 2 started.

KKR will need to play out their remaining league matches but they are out of contention for the semis. Given the way they played their last two games, is that even surprising? Seemed as if the team was made up not of players who play at the international level but of little boys who have just picked up the bat & ball – so ridiculous was their performance!!

I lost count of the number of catches they dropped over the last two games. Most were sitters. The ball would fall nicely in their hands yet they would drop it! Especially in last night’s game against Delhi, they dropped two catches which if they hadn’t, they could have won. One was dropped when Delhi needed 31 off 25 balls (or something like that), the other when they needed 2 off 5 balls. Had those catches been taken, KKR might have been able to snatch the game away from Delhi.

But the brilliant KKR players, led by a mind-blowingly brilliant captain & an even more brilliant coach did not disappoint. The bowlers got thrashed around for boundaries & sixes…fielders tried to stop the ball from running into the boundary after it already had…simple shots were misfielded (the ball would roll by the side of the player & he wouldn’t even know!)…even when they did manage to stop the ball, it would roll away like it has a mind of its own! It was comical. Is that how international players are expected to play??

And then you had the field placements. The worst field setting I have ever seen! Batsmen were always able to find the gap for boundaries. And what have they acquired Mashrafe Mortaza & Ajantha Mendis for? Hatching eggs sitting on the bench? Mortaza is a very talented bowler. Also KKR’s most expensive acquisition this year, I think. Yet a bowler like Ajit Agarkar, who is capable of giving 36 an over, is picked to play over him.

The problem is that only 4 foreign players can be chosen for any game. The rest have to be Indian. So drop McCullum! What has he contributed till now anyway?

Looking at the strategies/decisions Buchanan makes, it seems he has completely forgotten how to play cricket.