Blame the team selection for India's World T-20 debacle

Ever since winning the first edition of the T-20 World Cup, Indian team has failed to impress in any of the successive editions. Yesterday’s defeat still looms large in the memory of Indians. I am sure there would be few forming an opinion that, “Why to condemn them on their low days and dance in celebration when they succeed?” I agree with the fact that the fans have to act as a pillar for the team in their lows, but pointing out mistakes is important as well so that they are not repeated the next time. Mistakes are always forgiveable, if one has the courage to admit them!

When the team went into dilemma to celebrate or mourn the victory .

The par score of 121 was never a strong total for India to defend. You need to be on the top of your game to defend such petite scores, and unfortunately, things weren’t to be so. Dhoni’s tactics didn’t sound convincing to me; I still remember Sanjay Manjekar (in commentary) repeatedly signalling the captaincy flaws towards the end of the game. It felt as if Dhoni wasn’t aware of the net run-rate factor; there wasn’t any desperation shown towards the culmination of the game. In simple words, things had to be done differently yesterday night, but something went wrong. What was that thing?

When we study something, we have to start from where it began, draw comparisons and suggest changes. The team selection looked to me as the primary flaw! India’s team at the inaugural T-20 didn’t feature a single star and even Sehwag was probably at the darkest phase of his career at that time. There was desperation in that team, a desperation that became the catalyst for their triumph where everyone wanted to perform and give their maximum.

We simply need to have an altogether different team for the shortest format. Where are the likes of Pawinder Awana and Shikhar Dhawans, who have been fairly consistent in the IPL ? The list of IPL stars who are yet to make debut for India is incredibly long. It is a difficult fact to be digested that the team which went to Sri Lanka was selected on the basis of ODI performances. We needed strong players who can easily clear the ropes. All-rounders also come handy in this format. Unfortunately, we had none. As aptly pointed out by one of my friends, probably Harbhajan Singh should have started the game on the spinning track of Colombo. Unfortunately, team selection was big faux-pas to which urgent solutions are required.

The catastrophe always reminds me of the Ganguly-Wright era. They had incredible selection policies. For instance, every newcomer was given a maximum of five matches to impress the duo. In process, they developed the likes of Nehras, Yuvrajs, Kaifs, Zaheers and Harbhajans. Perhaps we need an aggressive captain who could take over the reins from MSD, and it has to be Gautam Gambhir. The aggression would come handy in this format and making Gambhir the captain will give a completely new outlook to the team.

Yesterday, India completed another circle in their vicious cycle of T-20 catastrophe. I don’t say that the Indian team was a total failure at the World Cup; they won 4 out 5 games which is actually pretty impressive. They looked exceptional at times, especially in the game against England. I have just pointed out the tiny flaws and some solutions to fix them.