Why did India fail despite a proven star-studded line up?

With a glittering array of batting talent, the experience of winning in 2007 and huge partisan crowds India were the bookies favourites to win the ICC World Twenty20 2009. Their failure to even make it out of the Super 8s was the biggest shock of the tournament.

So why did India fail to perform?  With all due respect to the likes of Zaheer Khan and RP Singh, it’s the batsmen who win matches in Twenty20 and India’s star-studded line-up were like rabbits in the headlights at times, a fact captain Mahendra Dhoni has acknowledged.

“The bowlers did well but the batting really hasn’t been up to the mark. With the batsmen, if the top three don’t click it becomes very hard.”

The loss of Sehwag hit India hard

A lot of people underestimated just how much the loss of injured opener Virender Sehwag would affect the team. Sehwag is a proven performer on the biggest stage and India missed his ability to set the tone of an innings and make the best attacks look ordinary. Momentum is huge in Twenty20 and without Sehwag, India lacked experience at the top of the order. They had Gambhir but during and since the IPL he’s been woefully out of touch.

Suresh Raina was predicted to be a potential star this year but instead of raw talent it was the 22 year old’s inexperience which shone through. With his team teetering early on against the West Indies and England, India needed a big performance from their no 3. Instead rash strokes saw him dismissed for just 2 and 5 runs.

With Rohit Sharma also failing to perform against the big teams, India lost too much ground early on. Too often Yuvraj and Dhoni entered the fray, needing to dig the side out of a hole and with a mountain to climb in terms of run-rate, not the ideal situation for stroke-players at their best when given license to let rip.

Dhoni got it badly wrong at crucial moments against England

India’s tactics in the do-or-die game with England were simply bizarre. With the team struggling at 24-2 and the game in the balance, why suddenly promote the little known Ravi Jadeja, making his debut in the competition. Jadeja had shown some promise in the recent IPL but internationally he’s as green as they come. Two of the most destructive batsmen in the game (Yuvraj and Dhoni) plus Yursuf Pathan could only look on as Jadeja plodded his way to 25 off 35 balls, 16 of which were dot balls. By the time Yuvraj got to the wicket he had to go for broke and was stumped for just 17.

England and West Indies decisively exploited India’s weakness against the short ball

There was also a sense opposition bowlers had done their homework on a lot of the Indian batsmen. They rarely have to deal with short-pitched, fast bowling on the featherbed pitches over there and as a result many are susceptible to the short ball. In contrast its a stock ball for all of the English bowlers and they used it very effectively combined with disciplined fielding. 48% of their deliveries were short, exposing the limitations of India’s players when playing the hook shot. This strategy is also easier to implement on English pitches in June rather than the flatter South African pitches used in the 2007 World Cup where India smashed boundaries almost at will.

By David Cox, Twenty20Blog.co.uk