ICC World Twenty20: Why Did India Crash Out?

From the tournament’s perspective, it was both, good and bad. While England’s presence in the Super Eights stage of the ICC World Twenty20 meant that the hosts kept the local public excited, the exit of such a popular team with a large following in Great Britain meant a massive loss both, in terms of spectator numbers as well as revenue.
India’s problems, like Virender Sehwag’s shoulder injury, were shrouded in mystery. One failed to comprehend entirely if their eventual exit from the ICC World Twenty20 stemmed from complacency or from a major lapse in thinking resulting out of over confidence.
Backing one self is one thing, but at the cost of undermining the opponent is quite something else. The normally shrewd Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed to grasp this. In the post match presentation after India lost to England and bowed out of the tournament, Dhoni stated that they had pushed Ravindra Jadeja ahead of the trio of himself, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan so that Jadeja would anchor the innings while he would back the skills of the trio to chase down a target that demanded a run rate of around ten an over.
However, while their talent is not in question, the pressure in this match was unprecedented thus for India who had relative smooth sailing of sorts with the likes of the opening partnership of Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir firing. To expect Jadeja to be blooded into the match and expected to deliver, made little sense. Instead by sending in one of the three, India’s run rate pressure could have eased with one of them deciding to go hammer and tongs.
What a waste the number of deliveries that Jadeja used up trying to do the job he was sent for. It takes something for exasperated commentators and spectators to comment that a player was better off back in the pavilion than at the crease.
Another critical trick that missed Dhoni was using maximum spin options. Pragyan Ojha has done well with the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers in the spinner’s role and the IPL 2 in South Africa and the ICC World Twenty20 have shown the wealth that having a quality spinner can pose. Instead India sacrificed a spinner for the inclusion of Jadeja . If they were making a case for an all rounder, they need not have disposed off Irfan Pathan.
Whether India was simply unaware of the task ahead of them or simply underestimated the potential of England, despite their weak performances against the Netherlands and against South Africa, India were perhaps operating on past laurels while expecting to go through. And they were expected to go much beyond where they presently stand, playing a match of academic importance against South Africa who have already qualified for the semi finals and now know that they do not have India lurking.
Perhaps Dhoni was fighting his frustrations with the Sehwag injury episode with the media that played out the Sehwag-Dhoni rift to perfect effect. It is hard to tell whether or not it had an effect on the team dynamics and if it distracted the captain from focussing his thinking where it mattered.
It is one thing to state, in hindsight, that some decision was right or another was wrong. But perhaps in a pressure match situation, the defensive decision to send Jadeja ahead of more experienced pros perhaps could have been avoided had Dhoni decided to bat first and allowed his batsmen a free rein of the pitch.
Some stated that the young team had not learnt enough. Others stated that the IPL presented the perfect opportunities to dissect the Indian team members’ weaknesses. Either way, India failed to put their shrewd thinking cap on and were found out for not thinking straight on their feet. Pity! They could have had it twice in a row!

To catch all the matches of the ICC World Twenty20 in England, begin with

ICC World Twenty20: India Clobber Ireland

Then simply keep going on!460854