Post-Mortem

I don’t know where to start. It makes me sick seeing all the ongoing ruckus, partly because it is unfair and partly because it is done by illiterate, yes I mean it, illiterate people who call themselves ‘fans’ of Team India.

These fans today want to be pampered every time. Every game should end in a favourable result for them or they start throwing tantrums. Yes, the early exit is definitely shocking and shameful for a team that is defending a title, but after all its just a game; anything can go wrong anytime, carefully laid-out plans may backfire unsuspectively, and more often so in this fast and furious format that is T20.

I feel the media to be responsible for this fickle-minded temperament of fans. A slight shift of things from normal state is enough for the blood thirsty mediamen to blow up the issue into insane proportions. And the recent losses are enough fodder for them to last till the next tournament.

Talking about the debacle in terms of cricketing ‘logic’; logic that undergoes serious twisting thanks to the T20 advent; we haven’t actually been defeated comprehensively in the first two super 8 matches. Yes, tactics used by fast bowlers to unsettle our batsmen were effective, albeit, for just 1 or 2 wickets.

The game against West Indies was very much in the balance until the very end of the last innings, when Bravo gave the final push. His was a match winning knock, total credit to him. The match against England showed just what I wish to conclude with – that luck, or chance plays an important in T20.

Everyone is after Dhoni’s head following his decision to promote Jadeja up the order, but one must understand that its just a plan which backfired. The same experiment could have possibly worked wonders in some other time. Back then when India was winning, anyone used to come at any position and the decision would reap dividends. It was hailed as brave, instinctive, and now, the same is regarded as insensible, foolhardy.

My final verdict on the disaster is that Dhoni, or Team India for that matter, just ran out of the luck on which they were riding the past two years. Team India definitely has the talent and skills and bravado, but you would agree that bravado does need its share of luck to succeed.

And being the glorious game of uncertainties that cricket is, one tournament loss should be shrugged off, because believe me, we are surely going to bounce back stronger.