Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India hope a one-day series in the West Indies later this month will help them recover from a dismal campaign in the World Twenty20.
India, who won the inaugural event in South Africa two years ago, failed to make the semi-finals after losing all three Super Eight matches against the West Indies, England and South Africa.
They now embark on a tour of the Caribbean for four one-dayers, the last leg of a hectic nine-month schedule across the globe that included the five-week Indian Premier League in South Africa in April-May.
India will return home after the last game against the West Indies at St Lucia on July 5 and will get a chance to rest till the Champions Trophy starts in South Africa in late September.
Skipper Dhoni wanted his team to forget the disappointing performance in the World Twenty20 and look ahead towards the series against the West Indies.
“Once you lose a few games, you start dissecting everything and count how much better we could have played,” the Indian captain said.
“We consider 80 per cent as the benchmark. If you are close to that, with the talent we have in the team, we have more chances of winning games. But we were more like 50 to 60 per cent of our potential in England.
“The T20 World Cup is gone. We are off to the West Indies, and that is what we are thinking about now. In the next two or three days, we will take some time off. Then we will start working back on the basics again, accept this has happened and start preparing for the West Indies.
Showing posts with label team india updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label team india updates. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Coach Gary Kirsten blames IPL for team’s fatigue and defeat
Indian coach Gary Kirsten had strong words to say about the Indian Premier League (IPL) and how it could have contributed in his team’s fatigue and niggling injuries-factors which were responsible for his team’s debacle in the ICC World Twenty20 here.
“A lot of our cricketers carried niggles in this tournament. We picked up niggles in the IPL and lost contact with them.
“India’s schedule ahead of the next Twenty20-in the West Indies in nine months time-isn’t going to be any different. If I’m still around, we would do some good planning and if need be, pull guys out of the IPL. We want when the real competition comes along, the people are ready for it.”
The South Africa-born Indian coach also confessed his side was extremely tired ahead of the world’s premier Twenty20 event.
“We were not as energetic as we were in New Zealand…we were relatively tired when we arrived here,” Kirsten made a damning comment on the state of his team.
“We have been on the road since end of January. We were not sure if we should increase the training or give sufficient rest. In the end we gave them as much rest as we could so that they could be pumped up for important games.
“But then we had relatively easy games against Bangladesh and Ireland. We then came up against the West Indies and were found wanting. We realized how tough the battle could be against a high quality international side.”
Because of fatigue and niggles, India’s problems against short-pitched deliveries thus got accentuated.
“If we could have executed our skills the way we wanted to, we could have won the game.
“(In Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina) we have two incredibly talented young cricketers for India-for one especially the going has been tough in this tournament.
“But I have no doubt he would come through and continue to make his mark. We have played short-pitched bowling in other conditions so that’s something which is not new.”
Kirsten believed the hurt of this tournament would actually make his side a better one-the first evidence of which could come in the final Super Eight game against South Africa.
“We are bitterly disappointed. We haven’t done something people could be proud of. I saw 15 faces in the changing room and some of them were really hurt. We have come to expect good performances and so it hurt.
“MS then said where do we move from here. We need to be positive and pick ourselves up. We have to go and win tomorrow and give it everything.”
Kirsten heaped praise on Dhoni, terming him as one of the most exceptional leaders he had seen in any walk of life.
“He is an extremely professional cricketer. He is one of the most exceptional leaders that I have seen in any walks of my life. He is able to separate the other things from his cricket and is extremely focussed.
“He is one of the greatest finishers in the game of cricket. We feel in high profile game he is the one who can close out game for us. We wanted to save Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan for the final 12 overs of the innings.”
“In 50-overs game, he is one of the greatest finishers the game has seen. He is trying to do it in Twenty20 cricket as well. He also wants to balance it with his big hitting. His batting is improving, he is a fast learner and he would come good.”
courtesy yahoo
“A lot of our cricketers carried niggles in this tournament. We picked up niggles in the IPL and lost contact with them.
“India’s schedule ahead of the next Twenty20-in the West Indies in nine months time-isn’t going to be any different. If I’m still around, we would do some good planning and if need be, pull guys out of the IPL. We want when the real competition comes along, the people are ready for it.”
The South Africa-born Indian coach also confessed his side was extremely tired ahead of the world’s premier Twenty20 event.
“We were not as energetic as we were in New Zealand…we were relatively tired when we arrived here,” Kirsten made a damning comment on the state of his team.
“We have been on the road since end of January. We were not sure if we should increase the training or give sufficient rest. In the end we gave them as much rest as we could so that they could be pumped up for important games.
“But then we had relatively easy games against Bangladesh and Ireland. We then came up against the West Indies and were found wanting. We realized how tough the battle could be against a high quality international side.”
Because of fatigue and niggles, India’s problems against short-pitched deliveries thus got accentuated.
“If we could have executed our skills the way we wanted to, we could have won the game.
“(In Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina) we have two incredibly talented young cricketers for India-for one especially the going has been tough in this tournament.
“But I have no doubt he would come through and continue to make his mark. We have played short-pitched bowling in other conditions so that’s something which is not new.”
Kirsten believed the hurt of this tournament would actually make his side a better one-the first evidence of which could come in the final Super Eight game against South Africa.
“We are bitterly disappointed. We haven’t done something people could be proud of. I saw 15 faces in the changing room and some of them were really hurt. We have come to expect good performances and so it hurt.
“MS then said where do we move from here. We need to be positive and pick ourselves up. We have to go and win tomorrow and give it everything.”
Kirsten heaped praise on Dhoni, terming him as one of the most exceptional leaders he had seen in any walk of life.
“He is an extremely professional cricketer. He is one of the most exceptional leaders that I have seen in any walks of my life. He is able to separate the other things from his cricket and is extremely focussed.
“He is one of the greatest finishers in the game of cricket. We feel in high profile game he is the one who can close out game for us. We wanted to save Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan for the final 12 overs of the innings.”
“In 50-overs game, he is one of the greatest finishers the game has seen. He is trying to do it in Twenty20 cricket as well. He also wants to balance it with his big hitting. His batting is improving, he is a fast learner and he would come good.”
courtesy yahoo
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sehwag ruled out with shoulder injury
Vice captain Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the ICC World T20 and will return to India for a shoulder injury immediately. It has also led to a fiasco between Viru and captain MS Dhoni as the latter thinks that viru hide his fitness condition from the selectors.
Also see -
T20 Tournament Standings
Sehwag has been on the sidelines ever since the team arrived in England and missed both of India’s first two warm-up matches as well as the first game against bangaldesh.
In his absence Rohit Sharma has been opening the innings and has enjoyed a fair bit of success. Sehwag did bat in the nets on Tuesday but ended the session abruptly after feeling uncomfortable.
Also see -
T20 Tournament Standings
Sehwag has been on the sidelines ever since the team arrived in England and missed both of India’s first two warm-up matches as well as the first game against bangaldesh.
In his absence Rohit Sharma has been opening the innings and has enjoyed a fair bit of success. Sehwag did bat in the nets on Tuesday but ended the session abruptly after feeling uncomfortable.
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