Is IPL one of the reasons for India's dismal performance in World T20, 2010?

[SJS50]

There is stuff in that article that some Indian fans need to be asked to read a hundred times as 'home work' It also points out the laughable 'justification' provided by Dhoni at his post match comments. On not being able to prepare in advance for short fast deliveries. . .

They knew exactly where they would be hit, they had enough time - about a year - to prepare for it,

yet they reacted to balls headed for their rib cage and upwards almost as if it was a hitherto unknown underhand tactic.

On T-20 format not being conducive to handling short fast stuff effectively . . .

there is hardly any time in Twenty20s to duck under a few bouncers and try to wear the bowlers down.There is a reason, though,

why such tactics are not tried against the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Shane Watson, Kevin Pietersen, et al. The bowlers know those men can hook them for sixes; the Indians' only scoring shot to well-directed bouncers has been the top edge over the keeper's head.

Their team-mate Virender Sehwag is a perfect man to learn from. Bowlers tried bowling short at him, but don't quite like being upper-cut for six or getting whipped away for four.

On the Indian captain's lame defense of his players . . .

That the captain was not only defensive, he was stubborn too. That Gambhir ran between the wickets in a manner that Ravi Shastri called pathetic - and it takes a lot to get Shastri to utter a negative word on air. Nor does Gambhir usually convert threes into twos.

On the laughable attempts by all and sundry to pretend that IPL is the best thing for Indian cricket . . .

The IPL tragics often cite India's No. 1 ranking in Tests to make themselves believe the cricket can't be so bad. Therein lies the major flaw too: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman are too established and too good to let a hit-and-giggle league effect their techniques or work ethic. And

it's because of them, and not the IPL stars, that India are No. 1 in Tests.

On Dhoni's lame attempts to defend the IPL . . .

Dhoni admits his side is tired. He says that's the reality of being an India cricketer. He admits most of his line-up can't attack the well-directed bouncer. He says his spinners bowled flat and his seamers kept bowling the same pace. He says his side didn't play to its potential.

Yet he finds nothing wrong in either the IPL or the scheduling.

While defending the IPL and the scheduling, Dhoni said, "Players need to be smart because IPL is not only about cricket. You have to respect your body, and if you don't do that the IPL is draining."

The team and the board will do well to add international cricket to the to-respect list

.

[jukkha]

2 IPL tournaments in a row immediately before World Cup ICC event's :(

[Zap_Brannigan]

Zaheer Khan' date=' Yousuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, Ashish Nehra, Nohit Sharma and Dhoni were the megastars of IPL, [/quote'] Zaheer was patchy and had a near 8 eco rate. Pathan had 1 good innings at the start of the tournament. Vijay was the 2nd best batsman for CSK, yes and he was also the only other players other than Raina and Rohit to get a 45+ score even if it was against Afghanistan. Nohit had 1 good innings in the WC, again 1 of the 3. Nehra just played 4 games in IPL and came off an injury and he was our best wicket taking bowler here. Dhoni had just 2 good innings in IPL and CSK were carried by Raina, Vijay,Ashwin, Albie, Bollinger and Murali most of the time. Our best batsmen, other than Sachin, in IPL were Raina, Rohit and Vijay and all 3 were top scorers for India in this WC in one game or the other. Our biggest fk ups were Zaheer, Yuvi, Pathan, Dhoni and Jadeja all of whom had a scratchy (atmost) IPL.

No one has the balls to play short deliveries' date=' all are flat track bullies, couldn't even handle the third class west indian pacers[/quote'] This was the main reason we lost. This has nothing to do with IPL. Besides, all the best players in this WC from other teams played in IPL as well. Look at Jayawardane and how IPL transformed him as a batman (or rather how he transformed since IPL).

[Sachinism]

It's unbelievable how people are missing the point here. How does banning IPL help India win t20 tournaments? It's like saying ban Ranji trophy if we lost a few test series. Right up there with 'Blame Sachin for not playing in this WC' thread in terms of moronness. The only drawback I can see with IPL is that they could've preponed the tournament by a week so that the players could get some time to get used to Windies surfaces.

Its played right before the T20 WC, non stop travelling and cricket for the players. Look at it another way, how has IPL helped Indian cricket, because that's what it was supposed to do.

Did IPL make us poor players of Short balls? Did IPL make make our trundlers bowl badly? Ironically' date=' the best Indian players in IPL like Raina, Bhajji are the best performers in the WC and yet people want to ban IPL.[/quote'] Well partially, all the players got too comfortable on the flat wickets at home. Another thing, specialist bowlers who were already good death bowlers were bowled at the death, I don't know how many times our Indian bowlers got to practice that. (I could be wrong but I'm assuming it was that way)

[SJS50]

With due regards to the poster who mentioned it, you need more than just balls to handle short stuff. You need the technique to be able to play/or leave them. If you have neither - then balls or no balls you will either get out or hurt. Neither helps the cause.

[Zap_Brannigan]

Its played right before the T20 WC, non stop travelling and cricket for the players. Look at it another way, how has IPL helped Indian cricket, because that's what it was supposed to do. Well partially, all the players got too comfortable on the flat wickets at home. Another thing, specialist bowlers who were already good death bowlers were bowled at the death, I don't know how many times our Indian bowlers got to practice that. (I could be wrong but I'm assuming it was that way)

A good portion of International Players that have performed well in this WC were part of IPL too. Going into the Aus game, why was there a sudden interest in Indians competence for short balls? This happened in the last T20 WC too. Teams have decided that India is bad at it, almost like how SA was bad at playing spin during the 90's and that seems to be their strategy in the big games. Till we start playing the hook properly, we are doomed in this format where we cannot leave the short balls like in tests or ODIs.

[SJS50]

It would appear that for some strange reason Indians get more fatigued by the IPL that their counter parts from other countries. Here are some of the players who bowled the most overs at IPL 2010 and were also playing at the T-20 WC in Windies

[B]Players        	Ovrs[/B]
D Steyn    	59
J Kallis	57
H Singh     	53.3
L Malinga	49
Z Khan      	48.2
M Muralitharan	48
A Morkel	47.4
A Mathews	37.3
K Pollard	37
D Nannes	34.1
Y Pathan	34
S Tait        	31.1
S Bond      	31
R Harris	30.4
D Bravo     	26.1

And here are the batsmen who scored the most runs at IPL and went on to the WC

[B]Players	Runs[/B]
J Kallis	572
S Raina     	520
M Vijay      	458
M Jayawardene	439
R Sharma	404
K Sangakkara	357
Y Pathan	333
C Gayle     	292
M Dhoni    	287
D Warner	282
D Karthik	278
G Gambhir	277
K Pollard	274
H Gibbs     	267
Y Singh     	255
P Collingwood	203

I am afraid I cant see a correlation between how active they were at IPL to how fatigued they appeared at the WC - can you ?

[Precambrian]

Zaheer Khan' date=' Yousuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, Ashish Nehra, Nohit Sharma and Dhoni were the megastars of IPL, whatever happened to them, shceduling IPL before a tournament like T20 world cup really fecked us up, players were tired and looked disinterested. Also playing in flat tracks all the time is a major downfall, I wonder what is going to happen to our test team after the retirement of God, VVS and Rahul:(( . No one has the balls to play short deliveries, all are flat track bullies, couldn't even handle the third class west indian pacers[/quote'] BS. Dhoni, Nehra have done atleast on par or better than IPL in this tournament. IPL gave enough pointers to what actually players like Vijay and Yousuck are. Basically one innings in 14 players. IPL also screamed out not to select Gambir, Yuckraj, Chawla etc but our selector nuts failed to even check statsguru. Had they watched IPL, they'd know how unrealiable and prone to crumble under pressure Zaheer Khan is as well. That said, the fact that senior players like Ganguly, Dravid, Kumble, and God dominated the batting and bowling chart didn't make it easy for the selectors, because they couldn't basically select the best 4 t20 players on form. But it is plain as sky as they did their share of screwups for which IPL is not responsible.

[Precambrian]

No. Dhoni has not ruled it out. In fact he has openly blamed IPL for the poor show. Did you see the press conference? Perhaps you didn't, but I did. These are the things he said: Parties, travel take a toll, says Dhoni after India's T20 exit : NDTV Parties, travelling during IPL took a toll on fitness: Dhoni : HINDU Dhoni blames IPL for World T20 debacle : INDIA TODAY There are many more links which you can check. He basically said this:

If the above is true, then it's hypocrisy of the highest order. Certainly the IPL parties did not prevent them from doing well right? Further Dhoni said he himself did not attend a single party. So this says basically attendance was not forced. So blame the player for choosing to party when if could have stayed at room and took rest. Also Dhoni reiterated in interviews that his team is fully fresh, and tired only by travel to West Indies prior to the tour. So I highly suspect he will now something completely contradictory to that.

[The Outsider]

It would appear that for some strange reason Indians get more fatigued by the IPL that their counter parts from other countries. Here are some of the players who bowled the most overs at IPL 2010 and were also playing at the T-20 WC in Windies

[B]Players        	Ovrs[/B]
D Steyn    	59
J Kallis	57
H Singh     	53.3
L Malinga	49
Z Khan      	48.2
M Muralitharan	48
A Morkel	47.4
A Mathews	37.3
K Pollard	37
D Nannes	34.1
Y Pathan	34
S Tait        	31.1
S Bond      	31
R Harris	30.4
D Bravo     	26.1

And here are the batsmen who scored the most runs at IPL and went on to the WC

[B]Players	Runs[/B]
J Kallis	572
S Raina     	520
M Vijay      	458
M Jayawardene	439
R Sharma	404
K Sangakkara	357
Y Pathan	333
C Gayle     	292
M Dhoni    	287
D Warner	282
D Karthik	278
G Gambhir	277
K Pollard	274
H Gibbs     	267
Y Singh     	255
P Collingwood	203

I am afraid I cant see a correlation between how active they were at IPL to how fatigued they appeared at the WC - can you ?

Let me try to analyze this post in a bit more detail. Firstly, we need to agree and identify that players who feature in all three formats of the international game are more prone to fatigue and burnout. The Indian side has the following - Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Zaheer, and Ishant(till recent). That is more than half, and the crucial half of the limited overs format, feature in all three formats. The last significant period of rest these players had was after the ODI series in WI last year in July. Besides that, the only time they have been out of the side has been because they have been injured. In the meanwhile, the Indian team has featured in 39 international matches. In addition to these they have played in around 15 IPL/CL league matches on average. That is more than 75 days of competitive cricket in 240 days while traveling all across the globe every few days. IPL, last and this year, took place at the end of the Indian cricketing season when players usually get 1-2 months off. Now armed with these facts let us look at the lists above. Among the non Indian bowlers Steyn (got injured), Kallis, Murali (got injured), Morkel, Mathews, Pollard, Bravo all had ordinary an tournament. Malinga, Nannes, Tait, Bond, and Harris are all limited over specialists and don't play much international cricket compared to the 7 Indian cricketers listed above. Among the non Indian batsmen Kallis, Pollard, Gayle, Gibbs, Collingwood all had an ordinary tournament. Warner is again a T20 specialist with hardly any international work load. The only exceptions to the rule appear to be Sri Lankans Jayawardene and Sangakarra (who has been extremely sloppy with the gloves). Both Sri Lankans with a much lower work load compared to the Indian 7. The only team besides India which has had a lot of international work load over the last season and whose players featured in the majority of the IPL was South Africa. They also made a Super 8 exit and appeared completely without any verve throughout the tournament. It's just common sense that playing 14-16 matches all across India in 6 weeks time, accompanied with all the traveling and parties is going to have an effect on the players, sandwiched smack in between of international commitments. There is nothing wrong with limited over specialists appearing in the IPL, but players featuring in all 3 formats just have to prioritize and make some choices somewhere. Dhoni has admitted it, Kirsten said so last year. But what would the coach and captain of our team know?

[The Outsider]

Secondly - why do we believe that some sort of supreme consistency can be achieved with respect to T20 cricket? The format itself is in its infancy. I strongly suspect that this is not the format where the strongest team wins. It is too short and fast to allow the rein of talent, control and experience. Raw emotions and adrenaline can and will triumph from time to time. That is why it is exciting to such a lot of people.

Who says you cannot achieve consistency in T20? India has lost 6 out 6 Super 8 matches over 2 editions of T20. Is that not consistent? They have also managed 1 win against a major nation across two editions of the tournament. Not consistent enough? I am not a fan of the format by any stretch, but hiding behind the lottery nature of the format is fine only to an extent. For example, yeah, you can have an off day or someone plays a brilliant innings in the knockout. However, to just keep on losing match after match after match is incompetence and not a shortcoming of the format.

[thevortex]

Who says you cannot achieve consistency in T20? India has lost 6 out 6 Super 8 matches over 2 editions of T20. Is that not consistent? They have also managed 1 win against a major nation across two editions of the tournament. Not consistent enough? I am not a fan of the format by any stretch, but hiding behind the lottery nature of the format is fine only to an extent. For example, yeah, you can have an off day or someone plays a brilliant innings in the knockout. However, to just keep on losing match after match after match is incompetence and not a shortcoming of the format.

Oh no, not by a long stretch am I saying that for defending the Indian performance in this tournament. Just saying that in T20s it is not necessary that the best teams win always. This is not to defend India. We must not be surprised if Australia gets knocked out by Pakistan in the semifinals. That is the way it goes. I am sure we agree on this.

[thevortex]

There is stuff in that article that some Indian fans need to be asked to read a hundred times as 'home work' It also points out the laughable 'justification' provided by Dhoni at his post match comments. On not being able to prepare in advance for short fast deliveries. . .

They knew exactly where they would be hit, they had enough time - about a year - to prepare for it,

yet they reacted to balls headed for their rib cage and upwards almost as if it was a hitherto unknown underhand tactic.

On T-20 format not being conducive to handling short fast stuff effectively . . .

there is hardly any time in Twenty20s to duck under a few bouncers and try to wear the bowlers down.There is a reason, though,

why such tactics are not tried against the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Shane Watson, Kevin Pietersen, et al. The bowlers know those men can hook them for sixes; the Indians' only scoring shot to well-directed bouncers has been the top edge over the keeper's head.

Their team-mate Virender Sehwag is a perfect man to learn from. Bowlers tried bowling short at him, but don't quite like being upper-cut for six or getting whipped away for four.

On the Indian captain's lame defense of his players . . .

That the captain was not only defensive, he was stubborn too. That Gambhir ran between the wickets in a manner that Ravi Shastri called pathetic - and it takes a lot to get Shastri to utter a negative word on air. Nor does Gambhir usually convert threes into twos.

On the laughable attempts by all and sundry to pretend that IPL is the best thing for Indian cricket . . .

The IPL tragics often cite India's No. 1 ranking in Tests to make themselves believe the cricket can't be so bad. Therein lies the major flaw too: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman are too established and too good to let a hit-and-giggle league effect their techniques or work ethic. And

it's because of them, and not the IPL stars, that India are No. 1 in Tests.

On Dhoni's lame attempts to defend the IPL . . .

Dhoni admits his side is tired. He says that's the reality of being an India cricketer. He admits most of his line-up can't attack the well-directed bouncer. He says his spinners bowled flat and his seamers kept bowling the same pace. He says his side didn't play to its potential.

Yet he finds nothing wrong in either the IPL or the scheduling.

While defending the IPL and the scheduling, Dhoni said, "Players need to be smart because IPL is not only about cricket. You have to respect your body, and if you don't do that the IPL is draining."

The team and the board will do well to add international cricket to the to-respect list

.

SJS - just read your other post on the World Cup 2007 and yes it is still very relevant :). About the quoted points, all very fine. But I just dont rate Jayawardene as good a puller as the other two mentioned. He plays the stroke just fine but absolutely compulsively. Jayawardene and Sarwan - I would rate just about equal in terms of compulsive hooking.

[The Outsider]

Oh no, not by a long stretch am I saying that for defending the Indian performance in this tournament. Just saying that in T20s it is not necessary that the best teams win always. This is not to defend India. We must not be surprised if Australia gets knocked out by Pakistan in the semifinals. That is the way it goes. I am sure we agree on this.

Yeah definitely. Once in the knockout rounds anything can happen even in ODIs, and it is much more exaggerated in T20s. I was coming more from the angle for qualifying for the semis where you have 3 matches in the Super 8s to do so, and to lose each and every one of them over 2 consecutive editions has nothing to do with the lottery nature of the format.

[Precambrian]

Let me try to analyze this post in a bit more detail. Firstly, we need to agree and identify that players who feature in all three formats of the international game are more prone to fatigue and burnout. The Indian side has the following - Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Zaheer, and Ishant(till recent). That is more than half, and the crucial half of the limited overs format, feature in all three formats. The last significant period of rest these players had was after the ODI series in WI last year in July. Besides that, the only time they have been out of the side has been because they have been injured. In the meanwhile, the Indian team has featured in 39 international matches. In addition to these they have played in around 15 IPL/CL league matches on average. That is more than 75 days of competitive cricket in 240 days while traveling all across the globe every few days. IPL, last and this year, took place at the end of the Indian cricketing season when players usually get 1-2 months off. Now armed with these facts let us look at the lists above. Among the non Indian bowlers Steyn (got injured), Kallis, Murali (got injured), Morkel, Mathews, Pollard, Bravo all had ordinary an tournament. Malinga, Nannes, Tait, Bond, and Harris are all limited over specialists and don't play much international cricket compared to the 7 Indian cricketers listed above. Among the non Indian batsmen Kallis, Pollard, Gayle, Gibbs, Collingwood all had an ordinary tournament. Warner is again a T20 specialist with hardly any international work load. The only exceptions to the rule appear to be Sri Lankans Jayawardene and Sangakarra (who has been extremely sloppy with the gloves). Both Sri Lankans with a much lower work load compared to the Indian 7. The only team besides India which has had a lot of international work load over the last season and whose players featured in the majority of the IPL was South Africa. They also made a Super 8 exit and appeared completely without any verve throughout the tournament. It's just common sense that playing 14-16 matches all across India in 6 weeks time, accompanied with all the traveling and parties is going to have an effect on the players, sandwiched smack in between of international commitments. There is nothing wrong with limited over specialists appearing in the IPL, but players featuring in all 3 formats just have to prioritize and make some choices somewhere. Dhoni has admitted it, Kirsten said so last year. But what would the coach and captain of our team know?

Sehwag and Ishant didn't play World Cup t20. Gambir didn't play whole of IPL either. If was injured for some IIRC. So that makes it Dhoni, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Bhajji, who really had to bear maximum load in the last year. Out of this Dhoni and Bhajji performed well in the world Cup. That leaves Zaheer and Yuvraj both were not great in IPL either, so didn't merit selection in the first place. There are 11 other players who didn't have comparable burden, so what's their excuse? Also Kallis, Jayawardena, Sangakkara, Steyn, have had good outings today at the t20 world Cup also. Also big lol at Harris and Malinga being called t20 specialists. Harris is a test bowler. So is Malinga.

[The Outsider]

Sehwag and Ishant didn't play World Cup t20.

Where did Sehwag get injured? When did Ishant start sucking? :winky:

Gambir didn't play whole of IPL either. If was injured for some IIRC.

Where did he get injured?:winky:

So that makes it Dhoni, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Bhajji, who really had to bear maximum load in the last year. Out of this Dhoni and Bhajji performed well in the world Cup.

Dhoni performed well? That's news to me! Harbhajan did not pick up a single wicket during the T20 WC and got smacked around in our knockout match!

That leaves Zaheer and Yuvraj both were not great in IPL either, so didn't merit selection in the first place.

So what they did not have a great IPL. The issue being discussed is fatigue and injuries, not form.

There are 11 other players who didn't have comparable burden, so what's their excuse?

Any side hinges on it's backbone performers. The above listed are our backbone performers in limited overs cricket - more than half the side. Of the others, Raina, Nehra, and Rohit did alright. So who does that leave Vijay, Jadeja, Pathan, Chawla who are fringe players anyway and there is something seriously wrong if you are relying on them to win you matches.

Also Kallis, Jayawardena, Sangakkara, Steyn, have had good outings today at the t20 world Cup also.

Kallis sucked in the WC. Steyn was ordinary and Sri Lankan players' workload is much less compared to Indians who play all formats.

Also big lol at Harris and Malinga being called t20 specialists. Harris is a test bowler. So is Malinga.

Bigger lol - how many tests has Harris played in his career? When was the last time Malinga featured in a test match? Now, try to come up with more sound and logical reasoning next time.

[Precambrian]

Where did Sehwag get injured? When did Ishant start sucking? :winky: Where did he get injured?:winky: Dhoni performed well? That's news to me! Harbhajan did not pick up a single wicket during the T20 WC and got smacked around in our knockout match! So what they did not have a great IPL. The issue being discussed is fatigue and injuries, not form. Any side hinges on it's backbone performers. The above listed are our backbone performers in limited overs cricket - more than half the side. Of the others, Raina, Nehra, and Rohit did alright. So who does that leave Vijay, Jadeja, Pathan, Chawla who are fringe players anyway and there is something seriously wrong if you are relying on them to win you matches. Kallis sucked in the WC. Steyn was ordinary and Sri Lankan players' workload is much less compared to Indians who play all formats. Bigger lol - how many tests has Harris played in his career? When was the last time Malinga featured in a test match? Now, try to come up with more sound and logical reasoning next time.

When did Ishant ever do good in limited overs cricket or t20 for India? When was the last time we won on a blistering performance by Sehwag in t20is? None of the players have performed better than what they did in IPL anyways, so what logic says Sehwag would've set WC on fire? Check out Dhoni's average and strike rate in this World Cup. ;) You said Bhajji sucked in the knockout match. Who made it a knock out in the first place? So you are blaming him for one bad super 8 match? 0 wickets @ 6 per over is preferable to 2 wickets @ 8, especially considering he was used to contain and not as attacking option. The concept of backbone players in t20 is hugely overrated. When we won our first t20 world Cup, where was this specialist backbone group? We just put together a random 15 together based on their form, and they clicked. I don't remember any player getting selected in that squad based on just reputation or hype. That has not been the case this time. For examples you have Pathan, Yuvraj, Jadeja, Gambir, Zaheer Khan, Chawla. That makes it half of first choice eleven. How'd you expect to win with a team that comprises more than half of it's players in bad form? Sri Lankan player's load less? Lol, almost all of them played the entire IPL. And you get fatigued by the most recent endeavours and not something you did a year back. It's not like you perform 100 per cent upto one point and become 0 immediately thereafter. If the signals thrown up by IPL were ignored it's not its fault, but the selectors'. Harris a test regular since this summer. I agree in case of Malinga however.

[yoda]

Apparently, according to our Kaptaan, it wasn't the actual playing in the IPL which caused the fatigue, it was more the travel and yes the late night parties which caused them to choke away in the World T20s.

[The Outsider]

When did Ishant ever do good in limited overs cricket or t20 for India?

Ishant was pretty decent in limited overs till the NZ tour last year after which he got completely ruined in IPL.

When was the last time we won on a blistering performance by Sehwag in t20is? None of the players have performed better than what they did in IPL anyways, so what logic says Sehwag would've set WC on fire?

Sehwag was not poor in IPL and just his presence and ability to get a quick 20-25 runs can make a huge difference to the side when Gambhir and Vijay were appearing clueless against the new ball. Everyone saw how batting got easier after the first few overs when Rohit was smashing the Aussies to all corners. If you don't think Sehwag's presence makes a difference to the side in any format, there is no point carrying on.

Check out Dhoni's average and strike rate in this World Cup. ;)

Meaningless numbers. We were going to qualify for the Super 8 anyways and at the same draw which was predecided. So he got a few runs against South Africa and Afghanistan, big deal. He flopped completely in the 3 matches that mattered.

You said Bhajji sucked in the knockout match. Who made it a knock out in the first place? So you are blaming him for one bad super 8 match? 0 wickets @ 6 per over is preferable to 2 wickets @ 8, especially considering he was used to contain and not as attacking option.

Alright, let me grant Harbhajan was okay just for the sake of argument though I don't understand why the supposed premiere bowler in the side would be used as a defensive option. That's one player!

The concept of backbone players in t20 is hugely overrated. When we won our first t20 world Cup, where was this specialist backbone group? We just put together a random 15 together based on their form, and they clicked. I don't remember any player getting selected in that squad based on just reputation or hype. That has not been the case this time. For examples you have Pathan, Yuvraj, Jadeja, Gambir, Zaheer Khan, Chawla. That makes it half of first choice eleven. How'd you expect to win with a team that comprises more than half of it's players in bad form?

T20 has changed since we won that first WC. Look at all the semi finalists this year. Their backbone players like Afridi, Ajmal, Akmal, Hussey, White, Watson, Pietersen, Swann, Sangakarra, Jayawardene, Malinga have all delivered in crunch situations. We might have succeeded the first time round, that doesn't mean you can expect your fringe players who are not even certain selections to win you matches. This has got nothing to do with the format or even the sport - in any team game for consistent success your core group must perform. For T20s our core group is Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Raina, and Gambhir. The rest are supporting casts who might win you the odd game but you can't bank on them to deliver you consistent wins.

Sri Lankan player's load less? Lol, almost all of them played the entire IPL. And you get fatigued by the most recent endeavours and not something you did a year back. It's not like you perform 100 per cent upto one point and become 0 immediately thereafter. If the signals thrown up by IPL were ignored it's not its fault, but the selectors'.

They had a long rest of 2 months before coming into the IPL. Our players came into the IPL on the back of consecutive series against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and South Africa featuring tests and ODIs!

Harris a test regular since this summer. I agree in case of Malinga however.

Huge LOL! Harris played a grand total of 2 tests in his career due to injuries to other players and he is a regular! You are clutching straws!

[Precambrian]

http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=11;orderby=matches;spanmin1=1+oct+2009;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting The list of players with most international matches since start of 09-10 season. 8 out of top 10 are Australians and they are demolishing their way through this year's t20 wc. We have just Dhoni, Raina and Gambir on that list in top 20 or so and out of them Dhoni and Raina have done a reasonable job as well in t20 world Cup as well. Gambir, Sehwag and Yuvraj are remaining three names. Sehwag is injured. We don't know whether he would have been injured had there been no IPL, anyway it's too much of if to be attributed to IPL. Gambir, and Yuvraj were pretty much dire in IPL as well. So them underperforming in World Cup is more due to bad form than having played too much cricket anyways. Look at the name on top. Shane Watson. He featured in 36 international matches since oct 09, immediately on finishing international duties came and played in the IPL and even having to play dual role of both mainstream batsman and bowler he is doing a great job in t20 world Cup as well. If anyone can claim an excuse for fatigue it's him.