It came, it saw and it conquered. But did it do more damage than good by staying? The Indian Premier League has, by staying around for 3 years, destroyed Indian cricket more than it has helped it by getting staged days ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup for two years in a row, and it is only that and nothing else that contemplated in India’s exit in the Super 8 rounds.
In the Twenty20 World Cup, Indian players gave brilliant individual performances yet they failed to perform as a team. Lapses from bowlers and fielders at crucial junctures resulted in the team's exit ahead of the Semi Finals. Mahendra Singh Dhoni believed ahead of the tournament that his team would perform well in Virender Sehwag’s absence, which missed his second Twenty20 World Cup in as many years due to injury received during the IPL.
Even Dhoni’s strong words didn’t help his side, which struggled for a reliable opening pair throughout the tournament, and only got Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir together when all seemed lost. The premier domestic competition also exposed bowlers like Ishant Sharma who would have made it to the Indian XI had they not played the IPL. If one takes a look at the players' individual performance, one finds out that apart from Suresh Raina, who scored 219 runs at an average of 43.8, no other Indian managed to cross even 100 runs.
Similarly in the bowling department, Ashish Nehra, who was hit for a last ball six in India's last match against Sri Lanka starred with the ball with 10 wickets, but gave away nearly 8 runs an over. Praveen Kumar was least economical at 4.25 and Harbhajan Singh, who played his side's all matches and opened the innings as well on most occasions excelled with 6.15 runs per over. Compare these stats with those achieved during the Indian Premier League and one is made to think about the league, and its position as an advantage or a disadvantage to the Indians.
In IPL, the batsmen wrecked havoc with Sachin Tendulkar topping the chart. But for reasons only known to him, he chose not to go to the West Indies where he was badly missed. He scored over 600 runs in IPL and a batsman with such experience is what India missed, along side Virender Sehwag. Suresh Raina was a hit in IPL and he was the face saving for Indians in the Twenty20 World Cup, but the others were a disappointment. Raina scored 520 runs in IPL and was the top scorer for the national team as well, blasting their first Twenty20 international century.
Murali Vijay, who was selected as a replacement for Sehwag scored 458 IPL runs but in the World Cup managed just 57. Just like Rohit Sharma who scored 404 IPL runs and 84 international runs. The Indians didn’t pick the hero of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup Robin Uthappa who was in terrific form in IPL, blasting 374 runs. His non-selection might continue to haunt them but with India out, there are other things to worry for them. Yousuf Pathan failed internationally yet again despite 333 IPL runs including a century. In the World Cup, all he managed in his 5 matches was 42 runs with 17 being his highest.
Zaheer Khan with 15 wickets was a star performer in IPL but failed in the Twenty20 World Cup where he took 2 wickets at an average of 53! Irfan Pathan and RP Singh with 15 and 13 IPL wickets respectively would certainly have made the difference for his side had the Indian selectors thought like sane people than insane hypocrites.
Among the Indian bowlers in the IPL, those who missed the trip to the Caribbean include Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra, the spin duo who topped the bowling charts in IPL with 21 and 17 wickets respectively. They were rejected to compensate Piyush Chawla (12 IPL wickets) who played two Twenty20 World Cup matches and took just 1 wicket and Ravindra Jadeja who bowled loose when it mattered the most. Jadeja finished with 2 wickets in his 4 matches but he shouldn't have been picked in the first place. While the whole of India was busy with IPL, he was practicing at home after being banned by the organizers for trying to negotiate a contract outside the player auction.
If anyone is to blame for India’s early exit, it is the selectors as well as the skipper who could have put his foot down and selected those who deserved to play than those who deserved to travel to the West Indies!
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