Is Buchanan a darpok?

Buchanan follows in the footsteps of fellow Aussies Hayden and Gilchrist to switch to damage control mode after uproar

Buchananu00a0follows in the footsteps of fellow Aussies Hayden and Gilchrist to switch to damage control mode after uproar

John Buchanan coached Australian teams which never took a backward step for anything. But when it comes to accepting the heat for making comments about the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh in his new book (he has written two earlier) The Future of Cricket the rise of Twenty20, the same Buchanan backed away. Very un-Australian one would be tempted to say. Don't they take great pride in their so- called honesty of opinions?

John Buchanan. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

Buchanan said yesterday that one had to read the entire book to understand what he meant. For someone who has acquired an Australian edition of his potential money-spinner and read quite a bit of it, I can tell you that you don't need to.u00a0

Hot stuff
In the book (page 74), Gavaskar "is blinkered by bias and tradition".u00a0 Yuvraj Singh, according to Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody (page 123), "would just walk off leaving all his gear and rubbish because he was used to someone else picking up after him". And Harbhajan is compared to a boxer (page 14). "He comes into the ring, lays a few jabs, but then retreats, dancing away from the counter-punching".

Backtracking on comments concerning famous Indian cricketing personalities is becoming a habit and Buchanan completes a trio of Aussies who were quick to go into damage control mode after creating an uproar in recent times.

Famous trio
When Matthew Hayden was reprimanded by Cricket Australia in February 2008 for calling Harbhajan Singh an obnoxious weed, he said this in defence: "I maintain my innocence. My intentions were never to denigrate cricket or anyone." Huh!

After questioning Tendulkar's credentials during the Monkeygate scandal in his autobiography, Adam Gilchrist took no time in switching to safe mode by calling up Tendulkar to say that his comments were taken out of context. Another classic case of questioning others' intelligence.

Personal problem
Buchanan's backing off reminds one of a comment made by Michael Jeh, a former club cricketer and an Oxford Blue, who played on the Brisbane club circuit. Jeh said: "Throughout my career, I've heard the usual comments like black c''', black bastard, black monkey the usual inane stuff.u00a0 If challenged, the usual defence is, 'don't take it so personally mate'. Given that I was often the only black person within a 2 km radius, how was I meant to not take it personally?"

Buchanan doesn't have anything uncomplimentary to say about Sourav Ganguly and Shah Rukh Khan co-owner and key member of Kolkata Knight Riders respectively. Not surprising. The book was written while he was still on KKR roles. At the end of the day, the paycheck matters and nothing should jeopardise that.

Understandably, India's cricketing fraternity is hurting. However, comments coming from someone whose last coaching assignment in India was an oversized disaster, shouldn't be taken seriously. And yes, don't take it personally, Mr Buchanan.