New Delhi: Former Australian Coach John Buchanan has stirred up emotions in India with a new book that takes pot shots at some of the country's best-known cricketers, past and present.

In the book, ‘The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty20’, Buchanan labels spinner Harbhajan Singh a troublemaker on the pitch and makes unflattering comments about Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Sunil Gavaskar.

Singh is "good at dishing out treatment, lighting the fire, and then finding appropriate means to camouflage his action," Buchanan says in the book, excerpts of which were published in the Times of India on July 9.

The Indian bowler triggered a major row on the 2008 tour of Australia when he was banned for three Tests for making allegedly racist remarks about Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the Sydney Test.

This was later reduced to a fine following an appeal to the International Cricket Council.

Writing on his blog, Singh offered a sarcastic response to Buchanan that referred to the Australian's track record as Coach of the IPL's Kolkata Knight Riders - a job he was sacked from last month after his team finished last in the tournament in South Africa.

"The great coach indeed had some great comments to make, just like his great coaching methods," said Singh.

"There used to be a time when action used to speak louder than words, but now its vice-versa. What surprise me are (his) comments on proven legends like Gavaskar and Sachin (Tendulkar)," he said.

In the excerpts from his book Buchanan said Gavaskar, a former Indian Captain and a member of the IPL board, was blinkered by bias and tradition, and also suggested Tendulkar was too old and slow to compete in the T20 cricket format.