India's shameful exit from the T20 World Cup

When India were crowned as the T20 champions in 2007 every Indian was proud... Cricket fans were on cloud number 9... And why not?? We had outdone arch rivals Pakistan in a nail biting dream final....India had proved to the cricketing world that they could win without the fab four (Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman)....But that was a different story.....India as a team was modest then..... Dhoni's remark after the victory was -

Low expectations led to high determination

The success at the T20 world cup carried long....With India beating Australia, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.... Most victories being achieved away from home...India threatened Australia for the top spot in ICC rankings....But somewhere something went wrong as India started feeling complacent... Complacency was India's biggest enemy...And perhaps it led to India's doom in the recent match against England; prior to which they were cozied by easy victories against Bangladesh and Ireland...England on the other hand had the hunger for victory and the players stood up to the need of the hour.... Hats off to the English....They put up a fine show....But being an Indian I must say that India's performance was dismal...

This T20 world cup has exposed India's weaknesses to the world.....The Indians failed to outmaster the bouncers or the perfume balls bowled at the them by the English. They had carefully watched India's performance against the Windies, who had a definite game plan...A similar ploy was adopted by the English and they were successful....

Another factor was dependency on Yuvraj...There was a time when people would switch off their TV sets if Sachin would get out....Now in the new age, India have a new dependency...Of course he is a match winner and of course he has been in great form..But depending on one player is not good for any team....

When Yuvraj hit the first ball faced faced by him for a six, I thought that he was there to make a statement..But when he fell India's doom had befallen... Dhoni had a part to play in India's doom...He should never have sent Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Yuvraj....Jadeja's strike rate was under 100... This put India on the back seat and Yuvraj was put under lot of pressure when he came in to bat...Many Indian fans would have thought that Yuvraj would repeat history by hitting 6 sixes...!!! But the English had different plans this time...They surely had done their homework....

England had fancied their chances then....They knew if they got Yuvraj out, the match was in their hands.....And Yuvraj fell to some smart keeping...


Yuvraj's early fall meant that Yusuf Pathan had to be the finisher...But the English contained him well, thanks to some disciplined bowling...

What India lacked this time was the edge and the hunger for victory...If the Indians had analyzed the loss to the Windies then they would have sorted out the short ball problem....Indian batsmen were driving to half vollies at the nets instead of playing bouncers...Many practice sessions were cancelled...

Gary Kirsten, the Indian coach talks about the player fatigue being responsible for the defeat...Gary points to the tight schedule of the team...But being proffesionals you are supposed to deliver each time....Fatigue should not be a factor...

Rohit Sharma failed to make a mark against stronger oppositions like the Windies and the English and fell early.....There lies the importance of Sehwag...He would and will always upset the opposition...And put them under immense pressure....The Indian's surely missed him....

Dhoni has lost his aggresive batting since he has taken charge of the team....This was clearly displayed when he failed more than once batting first down...Dhoni was taking singles on crucial deliveries in a do or die situation...

In a country where cricket is considered as a religion, India's early exit has raised fury among the fans...With Dhoni's effigy being burnt in his hometown....

Lets hope that India puts up a better show in the Caribbean next year.....