John Buchanan on the Indian tour
Faisal Shariff
By the time he left here, the rumblings had started. Rumblings of
revolt that, today, have culminated in his being axed from the
selection panel -- and when last do you recall an Australian
coach who was not also a national selector?
"It is to allow him to concentrate on coaching," is the official
word.
Right.
Today, we recall things that he had told us during that tour.
"The greatest strength of the Australian team is its ability to
learn, and to grow. And if this is the case, then our experiences
here in India will do nothing but good for the development of
individuals within the team, and for the team as a whole.
Therefore, ask me this question again in nine months time and we
shall see whether that is still our greatest strength" -- this,
at the start of the tour.
"I had not come to India before. I spoke to people who have
played here, and I thought I had collected plenty of data. But I
hadn't done my homework well enough. I wish I had come here
myself, and experienced it. It is only towards the end of the
Test series that I realized how incomplete my preparations had
been for the tour" -- this, after the defeat in the Tests.
"I have learnt a great deal about batting on the sub-continent by
just watching Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman bat. Their initial foot
movement is
not exaggerated. They don't have a large foot movement. Our
commitment on
the front foot turned out to be our undoing."
"Someone had told me that in India, to succeed against spin
bowling, the
batter must either wait for the ball to spin completely, or not
to let the
ball spin at all. I didn't understand that."
"Our spinners failed to understand how the ball should be
delivered, they
forgot how to get bounce of the deck. Their arms didn't come
straight on,
neither did they use the variations to good effect."
"Our spinning is not the same as it used to be. Therefore what
our spinners
did here wouldn't matter really."
"I failed as a coach."
This is the last line I heard him speak. He then turned and dived
back into the hotel swimming pool.
Today, he finds himself in hot water.
Other Links:
Up close with the Aussies: John Buchanan
'Our strength is our ability to learn'
Best of the last 16: Buchanan
Laxman's innings was special: John Buchannan
Mail Faisal Shariff
