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Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL team that finished last this season, are understood to have decided to remove John Buchanan as their coach and have begun sounding out possible replacements.Buchanan, Kolkata’s director of cricket operations, and Joy Bhattacharya, the team director, refused to confirm the development but the former Australia coach said he would comment on the issue within the next 48 hours. Steve Waugh, Michael Bevan and Dav Whatmore are among the possible replacements, as well as some Indian candidates, who have been contacted by franchise officials.”I haven’t heard anything officially,” Buchanan told Cricinfo. “I may have more to say in the next day or two.”However, a franchise official confirmed to Cricinfo that Buchanan, the former Australia coach, is being removed. There are a few names “in the mix” to replace Buchanan, the official said, and a decision will be taken during a meeting of the franchise’s management in July. The high-profile Kolkata franchise is co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood star, and the team failed to produce results in the two IPL seasons after finishing sixth in the inaugural edition.A senior Kolkata official is understood to have already had an exploratory chat with Dav Whatmore, currently head of the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy (NCA). Whatmore, who declined to comment, is believed to be a strong contender for the job because of his track record in the sub-continent — he coached Sri Lanka to the World Cup title in 1996 and was also coach of the Bangladesh team that upset India in the 2007 World Cup — and his experience with the Indian academy in Bangalore.Michael Bevan, the former Australia allrounder, who coached the ICL’s Chennai Superstars to the inaugural league title, is said to be in the frame as well although he has also been linked to Mumbai Indians. “At this stage, it is very early in the process,” Bevan, who confirmed that he had quit ICL, told Cricinfo. “It’s been a bit of sounding out to see if there’s interest from both parties. I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment on the teams concerned, but as far as I am aware these are head coaching roles. That obviously means different things in different teams but the extent of the roles in question I believe are quite senior.”One of the Indian names that a senior Kolkata player has suggested to the franchise is that of Lalchand Rajput, the coach of India’s winning 2007 World Twenty20 squad. Rajput, who declined to comment, was associated with the Mumbai Indians squad last year but he did not figure in the second IPL season.”There are a few names in the mix, and some of them have been informally sounded out,” the Kolkata official said. “But really, there is no hurry to arrive at a decision on a replacement because there are no activities lined up for the team in the near future. There is a franchise management meeting scheduled for the end of July where a decision is expected.”Mathew Mott, who was the on-field coach of Kolkata this season under Buchanan’s supervision, admitted that he was “not quite sure” about his future with the team. Mott said there was no clarity on the situation either from the franchise or Buchanan.”I’ve been trying to track down some of the managament team,” Mott told Cricinfo. “All I know is what I’ve read on the web. I’ve spoken briefly to John (Buchanan), and he’s not quite sure what’s going to happen. “When you don’t have success then I guess everyone comes under the microscope. I know from speaking to some of the owners after the tournament that they were planning to conduct a pretty thorough review of the franchise.”Mott said that he had two “great years” with Kolkata and hoped to fulfill his three-year contract with the IPL team. “I would love to stay,” he said. “I’ve had two great years with kolkata. Last season was obviously hard work, but I thought towards the end of the tournament we got a bit out of it and showed a lot of character. I signed a three year contact, so hopefully I can fulfill that and beyond. “The Kolkata franchise official, meanwhile, said that they would also look at beefing up the side’s batting, which emerged as a weak spot during the IPL, by actively looking to recruit Indian players who have pulled out from the unauthorised Indian Cricket League (ICL).The BCCI is yet to clarify whether these players, who accepted the Indian board’s amnesty offer last month, are eligible for next year’s IPL. “But we understand that various franchises have already started approaching some of those players, especially quality batsmen like Ambati Rayudu (Hyderabad) and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (Bengal),” the official said. “But we expect them to be made available on a common platform, possibly in another auction before the next IPL (in March).”Buchanan’s stint with Kolkata triggered a massive controversy before this year’s tournament when he put forward the concept of having multiple leaders in the team. Within a couple of weeks of that statement the team replaced Sourav Ganguly with Brendon McCullum as captain, leading to street protests in Kolkata, Ganguly’s hometown. The team went on to perform dismally during the second IPL season in South Africa, winning just three of their 14 league games.

The former England seamer, Angus Fraser, has reacted with sadness to the news that his former team-mate, Chris Lewis, has been convicted of drug smuggling, and believes that the case should send a warning to modern-day players of the dangers of being drawn into the trappings of fame.Lewis, 41, was sentenced to 13 years in prison by Croydon Crown Court after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into the country on a flight from St Lucia. He was arrested at Gatwick Airport in December, along with a friend, Chad Kirnon, when customs officials found five cans of fruit juice in his luggage in which cocaine had been dissolved.”It’s very, very sad,” Fraser told Cricinfo. “I suppose this highlights how difficult it can be for players to cope once they stop playing cricket. They get used to a lifestyle and a certain standard of living, and a lot of cricketers don’t plan for what to do when they stop playing.”As a person, Chris liked the nice things in life, the clothes and the cars, but once his playing days were over, his means of income was reduced. He needed the money and it appears he got dragged into something like this. It’s very sad.”Fraser, who is currently Middlesex’s Director of Cricket, having completed a six-year stint as the cricket correspondent of The Independent, played alongside Lewis when he was drafted in as a late replacement for the injured Ricardo Ellcock on England’s tour of the Caribbean in 1989-90. The pair were England team-mates, on and off, for the next five years.”I always had a lot of time for him,” said Fraser. “He copped a lot of stick in his playing days, and in the last few years, but he was always polite and friendly to my family, and I enjoyed his company. And he was certainly the best athlete I played cricket with, that’s for sure.”But he was a pretty complex character on the cricket field. He had the potential to bowl extremely fast, and the potential to score Test hundreds, but he was one of those players who only achieved a percentage of what he could have achieved.”Why there was such inconsistency to his performances, I don’t think anyone has ever got to the bottom of that. There are some blokes who just get on with it and bowl through a bit of discomfort, but Chris was very aware of his body. Some people just expect to be fit 100% of the time.”

Match facts

April 30, 2009
Start time 4.45pm (1445GMT, 2015 IST)

Big Picture

Hayden and Warne stand in the way of each other’s success•Chris Helgren/Reuters

Surprise, surprise. The rematch of last’s year’s final will be played between a team trying to stay afloat in the middle of the table, and the other trying to wriggle out of the bottom two. Who would have thought?Rajasthan Royals have been riding the talisman they call Shane Warne, and they would look for the same from their captain at SuperSport Park. Kamran Khan, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Munaf Patel have responded well to Warne’s call. In their last game, against Delhi’s mighty batting, the trio bowled 12 overs for 77 runs and five wickets. Warne has also been lucky that Yusuf Pathan has played two gems in both their wins.Chennai Super Kings will know they can learn a lesson or two from their overperforming opponents. Not much has changed in their line-up from last year, but they seem to have lost the touch. The batsmen, despite Matthew Hayden’s good form, have provided little joy, and the bowlers, except for Muttiah Muralitharan, have struggled. On paper, Chennai look the favourites, but the fact is they have won only one of their five games. They will also know if they lose tomorrow, they will have less points than Bangalore, having played the same number of games.

Form guide

Rajasthan: Yusuf continues to amaze even in South Africa, on bouncier pitches where he was supposed to fail, along with the other Indian batsmen in the team. Yet 104 of his 125 runs have come just in two innings, and he will be looking for more consistency. And he can do with more help from Graeme Smith, the most senior batsman in the side. Smith has been a big failure but the good news is, he finally got going with a solid, unbeaten 44 in their win against Delhi.Chennai: His pace bowlers have given Dhoni the biggest headaches. They haven’t been able to play Makhaya Ntini, and Manpreet Gony, L Balaji and Joginder Sharma have bowled too many length deliveries at around 125kmph. Gony has gone at 10 and over, and Joginder and Balaji at eight.But Dhoni also finds himself in a scenario he is not used to: where he is not leading by example. He has been part of a middle order that has wasted the starts given by Hayden. To go with Dhoni’s failures, S Badrinath has shown he is a misfit at No. 7 in a Twenty20 game, when there are only a few overs left and he has to hit right from ball one.

Watch out for

Warne v Hayden: They have won many a match together, but are now crucial to their teams’ individual successes. Bank on Warne to bring in all his experience to try and nullify Hayden, even before he bowls to him. And expect Hayden to raise his game a notch higher when facing an old friend. Hopefully, either Warne comes on to bowl early or Hayden survives till Warne’s usual introduction.

Team news

Rajasthan have problems with their batting. The Indian batsmen, apart from Yusuf, have not contributed at all. More changes are not completely unexpected. Neither Rob Quiney nor Tyron Henderson has been successful and they will need to address that issue too.Rajasthan: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 Rob Quiney/Tyron Henderson/Lee Carseldine, 4 Yusuf Pathan, 5 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 6 Ravindra Jedeja, 7 Shane Warne (capt), 8 Mahesh Rawat (wk), 9 Abhishek Raut/Paul Valthaty/anybody, 10 Kamran Khan, 11 Munaf Patel.Chennai’s biggest problem has been the local players. If they have to play Ntini, they will have to forego either of Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel. And they could also want to play M Vijay ahead of Badri.Chennai: (probable) 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 5 Albie Morkel, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 S Badrinath/M Vijay, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 L Balaji, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

Head-to-head record

Having played Rajasthan thrice, they are yet to beat them. The defeats included being bowled out for 109 in Jaipur, conceding 211 in Chennai, and failing to defend 163 in the final last year in Mumbai.

Ricky Ponting has the backing of the selectors to lead Australia in all three formats of the game until the 2011 World Cup despite the heavy international schedule. Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, has said they would not split the Test and ODI captaincy to help prolong Ponting’s career despite the growing stature of his deputy Michael Clarke.”Leadership issues are things that we always think about but we are really confident that Ricky will be more than capable of getting through to the 2011 World Cup, and I know that is something he would like to do, so I don’t see that as being an issue,” Hilditch told the .Ponting, along with Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson, was rested from the ODI series against Pakistan in Dubai and Abu Dhabi following a packed summer which included home and away series against South Africa. Clarke filled in for Ponting and scored a crucial hundred in the fourth game of the series, which Australia won 3-2.”We have been very careful with managing his [Ponting’s] workload in the last three or four years, and he really needed to have a break in our summer, which for lots of reasons was not a popular decision, but it was a pretty tough task to then send him to South Africa [for the Test series] and then go straight into one-dayers,” Hilditch said. “It was pretty tough on him and he did very well. For a few weeks, at least, he is getting a break now.”From time to time we will look at his workload, particularly on overseas tours and try and keep it to a manageable level, but for key events Ricky is always going to be a critical member of the side.”Australia will use Clarke, who is tipped to be Ponting’s successor, as a stand-in captain whenever Ponting needs a break. Clarke has also shown a willingness to wait. “Let me make clear, our captain’s back home and we can’t wait to have him back,” he said. “He’s a fantastic leader and I’m stoked that he’s happy to give me these chances, give me these opportunities to get involved and learn as much as I can.”

Leicestershire have signed Australian allrounder Andrew McDonald, but not for the current season.The county, whose chief executive, David Smith, went on record earlier this month as saying that he thought it was wrong to sign an Australian in an Ashes summer, have secured McDonald for 2010.”Andrew comes very highly recommended from our sources in Australia, he has played the last four Test Matches for Australia and he is one of only five cricketers to have scored 750 runs and taken 25 wickets in a Sheffield Shield season,” Smith said. “He will bring a strong all-round balance to the side and will also be a big asset for us in one day cricket.”Smith was at pains to emphasise that the county still prioritised English players and that in 2010 they would be playing nine English-qualified and two non-qualified cricketers in all matches.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details