T20 World Cup - India find the Windies too hot to handle

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MS Dhoni has proved so far to be an astute captain. He has always given his team members fair chances to prove themselves. But, very quickly into the game against the Windies, he must have been wondering if the choice to continue with Jadeja was worth it. Another chance was let down by the left-arm spinner who seems to be selected more for his bowling rather than all-round skills (proof was that Harbhajan was sent in earlier while batting). If Jadeja had shown better skills while bowling, it would have brought back the confidence to himself and his captain - but, it was not to be.

The other question on everyone's mind was the reasoning of MSD to go with the spin-oriented attack. If that was the intention, why not go with a specialist like Piyush Chawla? Does it mean that the think-tank has no trust on the backup pace bowler, Vinay Kumar? If so, why is he there in the squad at all?

Of course, many more questions come to one's mind - why is Zaheer Khan's intensity more while playing for Mumbai Indians than for his country? The leading bowler was giving away runs as though he was a newcomer, not like the seasoned bowler he is. Why was Rohit Sharma not given a bowl, especially when he had performed decently in the recent IPL.

West Indies played with more hunger and that sealed the game for the Indians. The batsmen again did not know how to deal with the bouncing ball. This was known at the last edition of the T20 World Cup but nothing has happened so far that has tried to find a remedy to the problem. Given the lesser capabilities of the Windies bowlers, the match became close but not good enough to win.

Of course, the BCCI must be blamed for the Indian batsmen's showing as well. By making them play on pitches without life, the batsmen are in no position to practice the horizontal shots. Without time between the engagements, there is no way they can practice these shots. Yusuf Pathan is struggling with the short ball and I dont think he has any time to work on this, in the near future.

The Aussies have thrown a lifeline to the Indian team by scoring a thumping win over the Sri Lankans. But, in my frank assessment, the Indians do not deserve to qualify for the next round by its showing in the Super 8s. The next match is in St. Lucia - favorable ground for the Indians but they need to win by a large margin to go through (provided Australia defeat the Windies - which looks very definitely on the cards).

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