What went wrong for India?

Kathmandu, June 17: India, who were taken as tournament favourite, crashed out of the World T20 Championship with three defeats out of three in their Super Eight fixture. The MS Dhoni’s men were also not convincing in winning against minnows Bangladesh and Ireland in the league round.

Though India were taken as tournament favourite, they were never near to it in terms of bowling, batting and fielding. Two years ago, they went to South Africa with a new captain and a bunch of inexperienced players. They had nothing to lose and against all odds, they went on to win the tournament. But this time, they came with heavy expectations and they were under immense pressure to deliver. Eventually, they perished.

In fact, apart from the inaugural World T20 championship in South Africa, India has never excelled in the shortest format of the game. Even though there were described as tournament favourite, they just couldn’t cope with those high expectations.

Secondly, most of the players were tired from the recently completed India Premier League. Captain Dhoni and his deputy Yubaraj Singh along with all the players played all the games in the IPL. They were very tired when they arrived in London and it was quite visible from their body language. They were not at their best.

Dhoni has already conceded that the team was not 100% fit. He also admitted the poor showing of big names in the side, including himself, as another cause behind his team’s early exit from the tournament. Dhoni is also accused of tampering with his batting order, especially at the No. 3 position. He himself came as No.3 batsman in the practice matches and later asked Raina to bat on the position. Raina, one of the most dependable batsmen in India’s middle order, did not perform well in any of the matches.

The Indian side dearly missed the absence of hard-hitting Virender Sehwag, who was ruled out due to shoulder injury. But media, especially the Indian ones, exaggerated the issue in leaps and bounds. They reported that Sehwag’s ouster was because of the rift with Dhoni. The issue became so big that the Indian team management had to parade all the players before media during a press meet. The issue distracted the team from the game and it ultimately led to India’s ouster.

India’s poor showing was the combination of factors: tired players, injuries, out of form batsmen, below par fielding and inept batting against short bowling. Perhaps the biggest reason behind their showing was the ‘favourite’ tag that media and other teams put on them.