04 May,2009 03:34 PM IST | | PTI
Never short of ideas, Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan has now floated the idea of having more than four foreign players in the playing XI of the Indian Premier League sides.
Buchanan said he had raised the issue with the IPL authorities and was hopeful that if not this season, such a thing would be allowed in the third edition of the Twenty20 league. "It is a question that we have posed to IPL a number of times about the involvement of more players on the field. I have personally mentioned that a number of times," Buchanan said.
"Hopefully IPL will look at that more seriously going forward into next season and beyond," the Australian told reporters after the Knight Riders went down to Kings XI Punjab yesterday.
Buchanan was asked about Mashrafe Mortaza's surprising omission from the playing XI despite the fact that KKR shelled out a whopping USD 600000 to get the Bangladeshi pacer.
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"At the moment, we have adopted a batting strategy. So that's where our international effort is. So that means that guys that are international bowlers, whether it be (Charl) Langeveldt, Mortaza, (Ajantha) Mendis whoever it might be, their opportunities are limited at this time," Buchanan said in no uncertain terms.
Buchanan was also asked whether there would be a change in captaincy after the side's string of poor shows under Brendon McCullum. "I don't think we need to answer that one. The answer is no," Buchanan said.
Incidentally, McCullum has decided to quit captaincy if the team fails to reach IPL semifinals.
