By IANS,
Durban : Kolkata Knight Riders’ coach John Buchanan said captain Brendon McCullum should not be made the scapegoat for the team’s dismal performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Buchanan, who drew flak for replacing Sourav Ganguly with McCullum as captain of the side, called it a collective failure.
“Brendon came into the tournament as captain under fire because we made some changes. So one should not blame only the captain,” Buchanan said.
“I think cricket is a team game and each one of us is responsible for the performance. Traditional sense says the captain is responsible but, in fact, everyone is.”
Knight Riders are languishing at the bottom of the IPL standings with just three points in nine matches.
Buchanan is confident that the team will bounce back but said it might not happen this year.
“It has been pretty hard for all of us. I know that we are going to get out of this. I am not sure whether it will be this time or next year,” Buchanan said.
“All we can do is try and play well. But in terms of the things, we need to improve, we will focus on one or two things rather than a range of issues. That will take time.”
Buchanan refused to put his team down and felt the performance has improved of late.
“As Brendon had pointed out some of our batsmen have been doing well. Morne van Wyk has been very good. And we saw Moses Henrique coming good. Those are good signs and we also have David Hussey joining us soon,” he said.
“If you look at our bowlers, I think Ishant has bowled well. He has been unfortunate. Ajit Agarkar has come back well. Our fielding has been good but there have been occasions when we have let our team down by dropping few catches. But nonetheless if you look at the side there has been a lot of improvement and I think we have done some good things,” he said.