Kolkata Knight Riders finally end farcical rotating captaincy

By BL Nguyen
Finally, the Kolkata Knight Riders have ended the madness surrounding the concept of multiple captains. And not before time either.

The idea was always a recipe for disaster, and coming from anyone other than John Buchanan, would not have been entertained for a minute. However, with such a successful record in international cricket, Buchanan's theories have always carried more weight because of Australia's dominant run in the last decade, no matter how preposterous. Clearly, the pundits of the cricket world have not given enough consideration to the fact that Buchanan's arrival as coach also coincided with the arrival of Adam Gilchrist and the destruction he wrought on opposition attacks, particularly in his first 30 months, when his Test average hovered at 60, as well as the decline of the opposition bowling, while Warne and McGrath continued as strong as ever.

While some Australian football teams have had multiple captains, it is a sport in which the players all move at high speed and cannot give directions to many others at the same time. Instead, the coach orders a staff member to run onto the field while play is proceeding to instruct individual players, making the captain tactically obsolete. On the other hand, the exact opposite applies in cricket. For those who believe that the coach is more important than the captain, ask the plethora of players who have played under the leadership of Shane Warne and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
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