India Knocked Out of World T20

India got knocked out of the World T20 thanks to two back to back losses against West Indies and England. It was a dismal performance by India especially in batting. Bowling was not great but still it was at an average level. Indians were the favorites coming into this tournament and they have been knocked out in Super 8s. If they would have lost in the semi-finals or finals, it still would have been better. But getting out in Super 8s is in no way acceptable. India had a famed batting line up which could chase down any total. It was dented by Virender Sehwag's shoulder injury which kept him out of the whole tournament. But still looking at the warm-up games India still were the favorites, but the story turned out to be entirely different. Lets look at how India's players played one-by-one:

Gautam Gambhir: He seemed totally out of sorts in this tournament. He never struck form whether it be in warm up games or against weaker teams. He got starts and then just couldn’t get the tempo up. A below average performance by his standards.

Rohit Sharma: Touted as the next big thing of Indian cricket. He is expected to take the baton from guys like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid whenever they decide to call it a day. But by going by his performance in this tournament it shows that he just hasn’t got it in him. The boy has surely got talent, technique, to some extent even temperament. He showed that by his good form in the warm up games especially against Pakistan. But in two big matches he failed. There is no use playing against Bangladesh and Ireland if you follow it up with a poor performance against better teams like West Indies and England. As soon as his weakness of short balls was targeted he seemed helpless and in an effort to break free by pulling his way out, he just managed to loop it high in the air right down the fielders throat or dragging it on his own stumps. You can hit 21 runs in one over in IPL but can’t score even 10 runs in an over against better teams in crucial matches. Sorry Rohit, more was expected from you. The thing that separates boys from men are qualities like guts, passion and the ability to rise to the occasion. That’s missing.

Suresh Raina: Another guy who promises a lot but never delivers. In IPL he seemed unstoppable along with Matthew Hayden. Well international cricket is so different. Its on an entirely different level as compared to IPL. Suresh Raina’s weakness against short ball was exploited by bowlers earlier in his international career also. He was a rising star thanks to an exciting win against England, but as soon as short balls came his way, his performance dipped and he was rightfully dropped from the team. Now when he came back I hoped that he would have worked on his weakness. Here also disappointment as Raina is as useless against short balls as he was a few years ago. Indian players have got tendency of not improving on their weaknesses. But when we look at Sourav Ganguly, he didn’t corrected his short ball weakness till the last part of his career, thankfully he finally did. Virender Sehwag is another batsman who worked on this same weakness while he was out of the team and now he is a different and better player. Suresh Raina got time to improve on himself, but sadly he never did improved on his weakness and it was exposed badly against West Indies and England.

Yuvraj Singh: Yuvraj did as much as he could. The only criticism that can be done is that he should have stayed on for a few more overs against England. But he was unlucky to get stumped by that way. If he would have been sent early, that is, after the fall of Raina things might have turned different. Another slip up he had was in the field in the last over of England’s innings when he misfielded a wide from Harbhajan Singh which went for four. If he would have fielded the result might have been different as India lost by only 3 runs.

Ravindra Jadeja: The culprit who took so many deliveries in getting his eye in that the required run rate shot above 11. And yeah as soon as he got his eye in he got out. So all the balls consumed by him eventually were a waste. His innings of 24 from 35 balls reminded me of Dhoni’s innings of 11 from 23 balls against West Indies. In both situations the batsman thought that they should consolidate and then afterwards they can cut loose. Against West Indies Dhoni’s dot balls proved too much and Jadeja’s dot balls against England pushed required run rate beyond limits. He would be criticized for this innings for a long long time. He bowled well but no one would talk about that. His disaster batting was far more costly to the Indian team.

MS Dhoni: The captain amazing. The man with the Midas Touch. Finally his Midas touch his gone and he did everything wrong possible. Against West Indies he himself played a very slow innings by T20 standards. And against England some of his decisions were questionable. For instance not bowling RP Singh’s full quota of overs when his 3 overs had costed only around 15 runs. The icing on the cake was his decision during India’s batting. He send Ravindra Jadeja at no. 4 and after Jadeja was dismissed he should have sent Yusuf Pathan instead he himself came and played a very very bad innings, which consisted of only 3 boundaries (2 by edges, where are all the sixes gone) when the team required a run rate of above 10. Such an innings from a captain is inexcusable. Wrong decisions, bad batting, poor captaincy. The only thing I can say is that no matter what people/experts say that Dhoni is the best captain India has ever had, probably at the end of his tenure even statistics would put him ahead of Ganguly. But in the end what matters is the way they did things. Ganguly was a superior captain in all aspects. Dhoni can’t even imagine in his dreams to touch the heights Dada did. Sourav Ganguly aka Dada was and is the best captain India has ever had. Coming back to this tournament this defeat is gonna have its backlashes. One thing is for sure that Indian public won’t forget this defeat that easily. Forgiveness this time would be difficult to come for Dhoni. Honestly speaking Dhoni deserves it, he has disappointed an entire nations' expectations. People would have understood if the opposing teams would have come up with inhuman display of cricketing ability, something like Chris Gayle against Australia, but it was nothing like that, India had both the matches in their hands and they gave it away. For such mistakes forgiveness should and will not come easily, he would have to earn it. As of now, whether it be Dhoni’s batting or captaincy. I was completely disappointed.

Yusuf Pathan: He tried to pull off an improbable victory in the end, but it was too much for him also. He remained not out till the end and still India lost, that is a big thing. He tried his best, scored around 33 odd runs on 17 balls, did his part, but sadly didn’t got support from the other end. When 3 balls and 15 runs were required he hitted an six which reduced to equation to 2 ball and 9 runs. But Yusuf couldn’t pull it off. It was too much to ask of him as he did maximum scoring in the end all by himself. The boy showed guts and courage. And most importantly the ability to withstand pressure, he has got tremendous potential and is a pure match winner, he surely will go far.

Harbhajan Singh: Bowled well apart from the two wides four he gave. Also did his bit in the batting when he came against the West Indies. Scored 3 boundaries in the final over to cross the 150 mark. In the end it was not enough.

Zaheer Khan: Was a little expensive by his standards. Needs to get his yorkers correct if he wants to contain the batsmen. Overall a below average tournament for Zaheer.

RP Singh: Just got one game and did his bit by giving 15 runs in 3 overs and taking 1 wicket. Should be included in the team in future as well. The problem is that he has been inconsistent in the past. Lets see can he maintain his consistency this time.

Irfan Pathan: He is considered more of an all rounder rather than a pure bowler. His bowling has reduced its sharpness since his heydays but still he is a good package overall. If he can improve his economy rate a little bit, he would be a sure selection in future. Against West Indies bowled with a good economy rate and picked the crucial wicket of Fletcher as well. Wasn't included in the team against England.

Pragyan Ojha: He was the highest wicket taker of India till the England game which means he has performed well. But when I look at his bowling he just doesn’t seem that good a bowler deserving a place in the side ahead of Harbhajan. Harbhajan has proved himself in the past and Ojha has to wait for his chances. No selector should put him ahead of Harbhajan as Ojha’s skills haven’t been tested against quality teams like South Africa and Australia. Overall a potential player, lets see how he evolves.

Ishant Sharma: He reminded me of Javagal Srinath. Why? Because he just kept bowling short balls one after the other to good back foot players. He was pulled and hooked for sixes and fours but still he came in and banged it short. That’s what I call persistence, but in this case, foolish persistence. He is young, has time on his side, and more importantly captain’s trust on his side.

Virender Sehwag: How much Virender Sehwag matters to this team was showed by their performance in his absence. India didn’t got a decent start in both the crunch games against West Indies and England. People criticize Sehwag on the grounds that he hits a few boundaries and one or two sixes and then he throws it away by getting out. But thats how Sehwag is, he completely demoralizes the opposition by his brutal hitting. And even if he stays for 3 overs and ensures that India gets to around 30 to 35 and gets out, it doesn’t matter as the initial thrust that is needed has been provided, now its upto the middle order to consolidate and build upon this advantage. By giving such starts he releases the pressure on the middle order. I don’t mind if Sehwag gets out after 3-4 overs as he makes sure that India’s innings is on track before getting out. The value of such starts was felt when India didn’t got off to a flier in both the games they lost. Sehwag you were sorely missed, you are the backbone of this Indian batting line up, your importance can be compared to not exactly but very similar to what Sachin Tendulkar was to India in mid 1990s. Hope you are there in the next world cups (both 50-50 and T20) to ensure that India wins them both.

The campaign has ended in disappointment. As in life things move on, in sports also things move on. Now comes another T20 World cup after 9 months and after two years 50-50 over World cup. Dhoni's best chance of redemption can come in next T20 world cup. Winning one series here and there wouldn't matter. If he wants to erase this ignominious exit from the public memory he needs to win these major tournaments or at least one of them. Dhoni's team was always victorious and on the roll till now. Here now they face a test of character. Can Indian team bounce back and perform at the same level at which they were doing before this tournament. Lets hope they can....