The follow-on decision in 2001 Eden Test was one of my poorest: John Buchanan

John Buchanan is one of the most successful coaches in cricket history. Apart from sustaining Australia’s position at the top of the Test rankings in the early 2000s, he guided the team to consecutive ODI World Cup triumphs in 2003 and 2007.

Not surprisingly, Buchanan has an unblemished record in the quadrennial tournament as Australia did not lose a game in either edition.

So watching Australia crash out in the first stage of the recently-concluded T20 World Cup would have been hard to swallow for the 72-year-old. In a chat with The Hindu, the Australian reckoned that the early exit was a timely wake-up call for the cricket authorities back home.

“There’s an expectation on a side like Australia to at least make the semifinals, and then potentially the final and even win it. So when they get knocked out in the round-robin stage, it means that they’re losing to teams they should easily beat. That should instigate some soul-searching and real, in-depth thinking about why it happened,” Buchanan said on Tuesday.

Buchanan flanked by Abinesh Manoharan (Exclusive franchise partner, Chennai Ready Steady Go Kids) and Joshua D’Mello (Franchise business head).
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He was here in his role as a co-founder of the ‘Ready Steady Go Kids’ programme, which is designed for kids aged two to seven and introduces them to 13 different sports.

On India’s T20 World Cup triumph, he remarked, “My overall view on Indian cricket is that it’s heading in the direction where you would expect it to be. It’s a powerhouse of world cricket. Simply because there is so much talent in this country, and the competition to get into the national team is very, very high. Therefore, the players, who are presumably selected on merit and graduate, fit pretty well to play at that level. And I think you’re beginning to see that with the win the other day.”

One of the most pivotal moments in history that played a role in India’s rise involved Buchanan.

It was on March 11, 2001, 25 years ago, that the iconic second Test between India and Australia at Eden Gardens in Kolkata started. Steve Waugh’s decision to enforce the follow-on backfired as V.V.S. Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid’s (180) spectacular 376-run partnership helped India stage a remarkable comeback and script a famous victory. When asked whether he regretted that decision, Buchanan conceded that emotions got the better of him. “I regard it as one of my poorest decisions as a coach, but it was not just about enforcing the follow-on. The game was set up nicely, and we had a big lead (274 runs). My job was not to get caught up in the emotion of what was going on the field. But I did,” he said.

“As the players walked in, my job was to make them sit down quickly and say what our options were. I think they still would have gone there (to enforce the follow-on), but I didn’t take the time to get them to think that if we had batted, we would have batted India out of the game. Our objective was to go there to win the series. But we enforced the follow-on, and the rest is history [India clinched the series 2-1 with a win in Chennai],” added Buchanan.