Whatmore, the right choice

With John Wright seemingly out of contention, KKR would have struggled to find a better man than the 1996 World Cup-winning coach to fill John Buchanan's spot

Whatmore, the right choice

With John Wright seemingly out of contention, KKR would have struggled to find a better man than the 1996 World Cup-winning coach to fill John Buchanan's spot

News of Dav Whatmore being a frontrunner to take over as coach of Kolkata Knight Riders sounds good for the hapless Indian Premier League team. Some of the contenders who were being spoken of may have had the potential, but not the success whichu00a0has to be a criteria while selecting a coach.

"Kolkata Knight Riders have lined up Dav Whatmore as coach, putting an end to months of speculation and uncertainty after the exit of John Buchanan," said a Cricinfo report yesterday.

John Wright would have been great simply because he enjoyed a good degree of success with India and worked well with Sourav Ganguly for a number of years. But Whatmore is a good second choice. It is learnt that Wright could not spend many months away from home.

Whatmore was the main candidate to take over the Indian team from Greg Chappell in 2007, but somehow he was sidelined and India were left without a coach for several months.

After resigning as coach of Bangladesh, Whatmore is believed to have endured a frustrating period until the Ravi Shastri-led National Cricket Academy roped him in as Director. The Australian has gone about his job at the NCA efficiently although experts reckon there is a lot to be done for the Bangalore-based institution to be on par with the very best in world cricket.

The BCCI have a task on hand to find a good replacement if Whatmore's KKR appointment gets finalised.

Whatmore's highlight as coach has to be Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup triumph. Amazingly, he quit the following year and fellow Australian Bruce Yardley took over. Sri Lanka has not won another World Cup. "Winning the World Cup against Australia (in the final) was very special. I remember being beaten by the same opponents just a few weeks prior and experiencing the Muttiah Muralitharan chucking incident. Here in Lahore we had an opportunity to correct a number of wrongs and the team wasn't going to let that opportunity go by," he had said.

There is nothing official about KKR's new coach, but co-owner Shah Rukh Khan need not worry about Whatmore's ability to handle sub-continental players. He told MiD DAY in a birthday interview last year: "I have worked with three (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India) of the four sub-continent teams. I feel very much at home with these players as I am a product of Sri Lankan parents and culture. Whilst it's true I grew up, was educated and learnt my cricket in Australia, I still retained the culture of people from the sub-continent."

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels