Another international tournament, yet another early exit. India formally bowed out of the World T20 on Tuesday after losing to Sri Lanka by five wickets in the concluding Super Eights match.
And, it is time again to do an autopsy.
Team India's performance in recent ICC events resembles a Bollywood blockbuster, predictable to the core -- high on hope, low on scope.
Just like the world's biggest film industry flatters to deceive -- with an assembly line of mediocre film, shoddy scripts and blatant copies, the performance of our much-adored cricketers in the tournaments that matter leaves much to be desired.
And just as the audience falls for the hype generated regarding these movies on more occasions than one, the cricket-crazy public is more than happy with the Indian team's performance on the flat wickets at home, and remains hooked to the entertainment dished out in the form of the Indian Premier League (IPL) -- never mind even if South Africa hosts it (India main sab chalta hai).
In the latter case, the generous public is even willing to forgive and forget the team's repeated failures in the long run and is back rooting for the team in quick time -- the BCCI doing its bit by ensuring there is cricket throughout the year (no respite whatsoever). We Indians love excesses, folks!
There's resentment (read criticism) though in the days following a shock defeat and, on every such occasion, the critics succeed in finding a scapegoat who is then solely blamed for the debacle.
But we will keep who we believe will be made scapegoats for the very last.
For the record, India won just two matches in the tournament, beating debutants Afghanistan and South Africa in the group stage, and lost to Australia, West Indies and Sri Lanka in the Super Eights.
With India's early exit in the West Indies, Bikash Mohapatra looks at the few players whose performance, rather the lack of it, cost India dear.
MS Dhoni
As leader of the pack, he has to be the first person to be held responsible for this debacle.
His decisions were questionable -- putting the opposition in on two occasions after winning the toss and subsequently losing both the matches, and his batting lacked confidence.
At least MS Dhoni can be complimented for being honest with regard to admitting his team's frailties
Having said that, nothing can justify Team India's woeful performance in the tournament
I for one am very very happy at India's early departure.
I do not consider that this team losing is a disgrace for India.
We have had too much cricket and the players, BCCI, the media people and the Indian Government may have benefitted from the monetary point of view but how does it affect the 60 crore people who are living below the poverty line.
Too much of anything is bad and this vested interest will soon reach the point of diminishing returns.
Last year too the T20 world tournament was held after the IPL and this time too, the same thing occurrd.
All the palyers would want to peak during the finals of IPL and so any match after the IPL would be an anti-climax.
These players were burnt out by the entered this tournament.
On top of that the late night partying with the cheer girls added fuel to the fire.
They were finished even before they went to the West Indies.
Yuvraj Singh was exhausted even during the IPL
I would advise the cricketing establishment of all countries to start reducing cricket to maintain the people's interest.
Presently the interest is just forced because of media coverage.
The media just love cricket for the ad revenue.
In which other sport can you beams ads every two minutes for 16 hours for 200 days a year?
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