A miserable performance from the champions and dreams of a billion Indian goes crashing down. It was a shame to see India play the way they did in the super eight and as a spectator it felt that most of them did not know even the basics of cricket. We performed below par in almost every aspect of the game, starting from bowling, and batting, fielding. The running between the wickets was a disgrace, so bad that Ravi Shastri even commented on it. Clearly there were neither strategies in place nor any contingency plans.
The answer for this poor play I believe was simple
- 1) Lack of practice
- 2) Poor selection
Blame it on the IPL, blame it on the parties or anything else, but one week of practice is definitely not enough to go into a tournament, definitely not the world cup. The IPL should have got over at least 3 weeks before the world cup or at least the playing 15 should have been released like other countries did. This was a mistake by the BCCI, the team management, the coach and the captain. They should have realized that they are going to the West Indies, where pitches never favored India and planned a proper coaching and practice schedule.
I remember when we used to go for school basketball tournaments; we started exclusive practice at least 3 weeks before although we played every day.
All said and done, we are always a good team and will always be champions. We have 2011 coming up and we have to stay focused and not let IPL, ICL or anything distract the Indian team.