KKR ON OVERDRIVE

Following the team's dismal show in the second edition of the Indian Premier League, where they finished last, Kolkata Knight Riders have reportedly sacked director of coaching John Buchanan, a year before the Aussie's contract expires.

While the team management remained tight-lipped on the issue, a KKR source said Sourav Ganguly might be given the role of player-cum-coach, even as the names of Dav Whatmore, Steve Waugh and Lalchand Rajput were doing the rounds. "There is a possibility that Sourav would be given the job to plan strategies from the dugout. He might also play some matches," said the source.

The Knight Riders will discuss their future course of action in a meeting in Mumbai once franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan, who is out of the country, returns. Buchanan hasn't been invited to the proposed meeting.

Meanwhile, players have welcomed the move. "It's a result-oriented world and the coach has to face the music if he fails to deliver," said KKR all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla. "I think it's a change for the better."

The source also said that the squad was set for an overhaul and there would be new faces in the support staff, with Buchanan's methods, especially the multiple-captaincy theory and his handling of the team not going down well with the owners. The team lost nine matches in a row in the tournament.

"Buchanan was never in Shah Rukh's good books, especially after the team's dismal show in South Africa. In fact, he (Shah Rukh) refused to meet the coach and refused him an appointment at his bungalow in Mumbai," he said.