The team physio Nitin Patel had cast a doubt at the fitness levels of as many as five key players in his report to the BCCI before the tournament but all of them were included in the squad. According to reports, the physio’s report had mentioned that captain Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, R P Singh and Zaheer Khan had injuries which needed treatment.

But despite getting the report before the selection committee meeting, the BCCI decided to select the players in the squad hoping that they would regain full fitness by the time the tournament got underway in England. But despite getting the report before the selection committee meeting, the BCCI decided to select the players in the squad hoping that they would regain full fitness by the time the tournament got underway in England.

It is a routine report which is given before every tour to assess the fitness of the players. Too much importance should not be attached to the report”, BCCI’s Media and Finance Committee Chairman Rajiv Shukla said.

At times you have to hide things: Dhoni on Viru’s injury
The mystery over Virender Sehwag’s injury just refuses to die down even after India’s campaign in England has ended. The media wanted to know what the levels of transparency are in the team when it comes to disclosing injuries. Dhoni finally came clear on the issue. ‘‘When the first MRI was done in India, it did not show anything. When the next MRI was done here, it showed he had a tear. At times, you cannot say everything because you want the opposition team to think of Sehwag, whether he is playing or not. I prefer announcing the team one hour before the game. At times you have to hide things.’’

It was a sad sight at Lord’s on Sunday. Nearly 75 per cent of the packed stands at the home of cricket were rooting for India as it took on hosts England in a do-or-die Super Eight match. In the end, they left shocked and terribly disappointed. Team India had let them down.

Team India

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni  said later that his team had performed to the best of its abilities, but things did not work out.

Was it really the case?
For starters, England just had to carry on from where the West Indies ] bowlers left off in India’s last match. The Indian batsmen were at all sea against the bouncer in their last game, but never bothered to work on that weakness on the off day after that match.
It was no surprise that England’s pacers exploited the weakness, which ultimately proved the difference between the two teams.
Indian fans were stunned when Dhoni and the team management dropped their highest wicket-taker, Pragyan Ojha , and brought in Ravindra Jadeja. The Rajasthan Royals all-rounder did a decent job with the ball, but his subdued knock, during which he scored 25 off 35 deliveries, put India under tremendous pressure to up the run rate.
Questionable was the decision to keep the in-form Yuvraj Singh waiting down the order at number five. By the time he came in the equation had climbed to a near-impossible — 92 runs needed from 56 deliveries. And when the next big hitter, Yusuf Pathan, walked in, the task had gotten even tougher — 67 from the last six overs.
After the game Dhoni admitted his gambles — promoting Jadeja; not taking the initiative in the middle overs; keeping Yuvraj waiting down the order — did not work.

In a must-win encounter, should India have gone in for experimentation?

Who would you blame for the loss? The team? Or Dhoni?

Tell us.

The England victory silenced the large contingent of noisy Indian fans packed into Lord’s and India failed to make the semi-finals after also losing their first Super Eight match against West Indies on Friday.

Off-spinner Graeme Swann captured the crucial wicket of Yuvraj Singh for 17, including two sixes, stumped neatly by James Foster.

Left-arm swing bowler Ryan Sidebottom, returning to the side in place of leg-spinner Adil Rashid, bowled the final over and was given the man-of-the-match award after capturing two for 31 from his four overs.

England lost Luke Wright for one in the second over after losing the toss and being asked to bat.

Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen added 71 for the second wicket with Bopara hooking the first six of the match off Ishant Sharma.

Pietersen whipped Sharma through mid-wicket for four and moved down the pitch to left-arm paceman RP Singh as if he were playing a spinner to off-drive a four.

The introduction of Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm spin seemed to turn the match India’s way. Jadeja bowled Bopara for 37 and dismissed Pietersen lbw for 46, trying to sweep a full delivery.

But five wides from Harbhajan Singh in the final over allowed to England to creep to 153 for seven, a defendable total on a pitch offering variable bounce.

Team India is at the crossroads again. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys crossed it the last time, bouncing back after losing their first game in the Super Eights to win the Twenty20 World Cup. Now, it remains to be seen whether they can repeat the feat.

On Friday, at the ICC  World Twenty20, they came up short by a mile, Outclassed by the West Indies  in every department of the game, including fielding, in the first encounter between the two sides at Lord’s in nearly 26 years.

After two easy outings, against minnows Bangladesh and Ireland in the group stages, India’s first real challenge in defence of their crown came up against a formidable opponent, and, needless to say, they were found wanting.

Dwayne Bravo  came to the party with a cracking innings of 66 from 36 deliveries to single-handedly take the Windies to a well-deserved seven-wicket victory. Not surprising, even India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni  was effusive in praise of his batting.

“Bravo played a brilliant innings to take the team through, because we were able to apply some pressure on them, but in the middle overs he batted really well and scored some runs off the spinners,” Dhoni said after Friday’s match.

He, however, was quick to rue the fact that the team did not put up enough runs, being restricted to 153 for seven in their 20 overs.

“It was not enough. We have seen in this format, especially on these tracks, if you are looking to put some score on the board it should be at least 165-odd runs, because the wickets are nice. But we really fancied our chances even with 153 on the board,” he said.

He is now looking to draw inspiration from the last tournament, played in South Africa  two years ago, where they were in a similar situation but went on to win every game thereafter en route to the title.

“We will be under pressure to perform in the next game, but that has been the story in the last World Cup too, because after the first game every game was a do-or-die situation for us. We beat some of the toughest teams and we went to the finals and won the Cup. It is not like that we cannot do it again,” Dhoni said.

Dhoni also pointed out that the 51 dot balls India had in their innings was a major drawback.

“Our conscious effort — when we sit to analyze — we try to minimize dot balls. If we could have reduced 51 dot balls to, maybe, 35 dot balls, then we would have had another 10 or 15 runs, but this was one of those off-days where nothing worked.

“We place a lot of importance on boundaries and sixes, but you must remember that lesser the dots balls, the bigger chance of posting a big score.”

Asked why he did not come in at number three like in the previous matches, he replied: “Gautam [Gambhir] was doing the job so we thought we needed one of the guys to be in the middle. When Gautam is there he just plays his game, and if he gets out, I can look to get in.

“But the normal strategy was to get in after the fourth or the sixth overs. Fortunately, in the last few games we never really lost wickets before that, so that was the plan.”