Rob Houwing’s weekly IPL South African player-watch

Cape Town – John Buchanan may be universally regarded as an unorthodox coach, but it’s hard not to believe he’s been overly preoccupied of late by his beloved Sun Tzu and rather taken his eye off the team selection ball.

Why, even the Chinese military-strategist-cum-philosopher might well be scratching his head in some ancient grave over the continued non-deployment of Charl Langeveldt in Indian Premier League combat.

Think prolific “bench” status in South African sport and many wags might cite Bok rugby hooker Hanyani “Splinters” Shimange as a leading specialist at the art of pitch-side idleness.

The luckless Langeveldt is in danger of seizing his cultish mantle, however … at least in terms of his chronic inactivity thus far for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Has he been carrying a niggle or some persistent virus or other?

It would appear not, because when asked in a dugout interview a few days ago why he had not had any game time in eight fixtures by the firmly bottom-placed Knight Riders (won one, lost six, one no-result), the normally ultra-modest and reasonably bashful “Langers” replied: “Your guess is as good as mine.”

And you rather suspected that Langeveldt wished his Aussie coach was somewhere within earshot as he said it!

I still don’t believe I was wrong, while revealing on Sport24 a few weeks ago that Langeveldt had signed for Kolkata, in saying it was a bit a coup for the franchise: the evergreen and ever-keen seamer seemed a perfect candidate for the SA-staged jamboree with his particularly abundant knowledge of local conditions and starring role in the Cape Cobras’ crowning as domestic Standard Bank Pro20 champions.

The 34-year-old appears to have lost little of his “nip” and just gets steelier and steelier as a death bowler.

So his lingering demotion to “nets duty” flabbergasts me, even acknowledging the fact that the Knight Riders are heavily subscribed (too heavily, maybe?) with overseas players and that there is a ceiling of four non-Indian players per match-day XI.

I do feel some sympathy for Buchanan’s dilemma in that respect. Just for one thing, he was widely castigated for his Kolkata “multiple captains” suggestion before the tournament started, and then backtracked and named Brendon McCullum as designated leader.

It is not Buchanan’s fault that the Kiwi has delivered 50 runs in seven appearances thus far at a less than princely average of 7.14.

More recently, McCullum has relinquished the wicketkeeping gloves -- ironically opening a gap for Langeveldt’s compatriot Morne van Wyk, the battle-wise Eagles campaigner who has certainly not let the side down in three outings, either behind the stumps or with the willow.

Another Aussie, Brad Hodge, has been a bit of a revelation, up among the leading run-scorers in the IPL despite his team’s ongoing struggle, while Buchanan cannot be blamed for consistently fielding Chris Gayle up to the West Indian master-blaster’s departure for Test duty in England this week.

Gayle was well less than a whirlwind, notching 171 runs in seven matches at 28.50 -- and disappointingly failing to reach a fifty -- but he is one of those players you always rather bank on to “come off” in a big way.

Yet it still seems peculiar that Langeveldt cannot be summoned into service, considering the potential match-winning qualities he offers: there have even been two ho-hum appearances for the Knight Riders, after all, by the rookie Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques.

Now that Gayle has left the fold, perhaps Langeveldt will be unleashed on the IPL at roughly the midway point like a claustrophobic beast – but again there is no guarantee if Buchanan opts to field another Australian in David Hussey, shortly due back for Kolkata after his ODI commitments with his national team in Pakistan.

The coach might have done well to examine the success of another paceman well-versed in South African conditions, Dillon du Preez, when the broad-shouldered customer belatedly debuted for Bangalore Royal Challengers in their Sunday win at the Wanderers against Mumbai Indians.

His very rapid response was to bundle out kingpins Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy cheaply and finish with three for 32.

If there’s any consolation for Langeveldt, fellow SA international pacemen Morne Morkel (Rajasthan Royals) and Makhaya Ntini (Chennai Super Kings) have also not troubled the statisticians at all yet, through no fault of their own.

But one wonders how Langeveldt’s UK employers, Derbyshire, are feeling after “reluctantly” agreeing to free him for a few weeks to play in the IPL: you’d think his continuous inactivity is only deepening their regret that he isn’t charging in for them on the county circuit …