The T20 World cup for the Indian Team turned out to be a game of gamble, where it seemed that the BCCI management was betting in the Indian Cricketers.
Soon after the IPL was over, everyone was waiting for the Caribbean journey to be victorious. The team of youngsters (was then called by the people of India) was sent off to the West Indies under the leadership of M.S. Dhoni, the winning captain of IPL 2010 (for the team Chennai Super Kings), and everyone claimed that the captain cool would once again bring the former cup home. But who knew that their trip would turn out to be havoc for our team!!!!!
Ok! Let us start the journey in the flashback mode. Indians had a tough game in the practice matches. It was placed under the Group which consisted of Afghanistan and South Africa. Their first match was against Afghanistan, a comparatively inexperienced team. Indians look it as an easy win. Even on May 2, the match against South Africa, the Indians were looking smooth and became victorious, with the help of a spectacular century by Suresh Raina. This match helped to conquer the group stage and reach the Super-8s, another ladder to cross!!!
Their performances were judged by people all around the world, praising about the Indian Players, displaying their immense talent and form. After the win over South Africa, Indians particularly had a week off, since their next match was on 8th May, and everybody was eagerly waiting for that day.
But as soon as the Super-8 stage came, it was like the beautiful heaven turning to a fiery hell!!
Their first match was with no other than the world champs Australia. Indians had a tough luck against them, and they loosed their first match! Never mind, they hoped to back up against the host, the West Indies, but even that egg fell off from the Indian basket. The fans started to worry about it, since it was very less chance for the country to qualify from the Super-8s to the Quarters. But the hopes were still alive. If India won against Sri-Lanka, of course with a big margin, then there were chances to buck up. But it seemed even god had lost faith on our fellow cricketers. Chamara Kapudegara’s six off the last ball, shattered the interests, the feelings and the hopes of the Indian fans.
Then came up an interesting topic which is still burning in the minds of all the Indians!
The returning of the Indian Team from the Caribbean also brought numerous questions. One after another, eggs started to break. The captain ‘cool’ was put into the hot bowl of curry! Questions broke out from everywhere on Dhoni’s captaincy and his wrong decisions. But as individual, do you feel the same?
In my opinion, the fact that the Indians loose was because of the team condition, and not the captain himself. For this, I have many darts to hit the bull’s eye!!!
One of the reasons can be the wrong team selection by the BCCI. Absence of players like Virendra Sehwag & Sachin Tendulakar caused a big hole in the team. Even though the captain before the tournament claimed that these were the best 15 whom could be picked for the T20 match, we cannot figure out the reason why players like Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli and Sreesanth were left out, even though they were looking in a great touch during the IPL!
Second reason could be the lack of options and replacements. Pravin Kumar’s injury during the first match against Afghanistan caused a setback, since there was no sort of warranty or replacament! In the words of the captain M.S. Dhoni during the presentation ceremony of the last match against Sri Lanka, “In the middle of the game, it seemed to me as if I had no options left with me to try!”
Third reason can be the weak display and the out of form of the cricketers. Unlike in the IPL, no player emerged like a star in the Super-8 stage and the team never looked like the inaugural champions of the T20 World cup!
Everyone pointed out Dhoni’s fault about why he used Ravindra Jadeja in every match like a triumph card, even though he was smashed for sixes by the batsmen, like a woodcutter using his axe with power to slice the tree. But then we should not forget that the tree had no option of him. There was no one then available in the Indian team who could play as an all rounder Jadeja in the squad.
Ok, let these reasons exist or not, but then why did we forget that all the prestige that we have got in the field of cricket lately is only because of our fellow captain. We are the no. 1 team in the tests, we were the champions of T20, and we have beaten each team in their home country and win lots of series and cups, and many such wonders.
So blaming an individual in a sport like cricket, where team spirit is a must is not at all fair. Competition is everybody’s food. If we slip one, we still have time. Hence all the time planning to blame the skipper and changing it is not a good action! Instead we could work more and improve it, then that would be the best thing to do ever in the team……………………
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