What's Wrong With Team India's Tactics?

West Indies--the land of fast bowling and bouncy pitches. The International Cricket Council T20 World Cup is being played here from April 30.

And, at the Super Eight level Team India seems to have lost all reason and sanity. They put the focus on spinners--that too part time--and opted for just two pacers on such bouncy wickets. They had taken an extra batsman to increase batting strength.

And yet, they had opted to field first winning the toss against Australia and helped them generously to get to a big total. They lost that first Super Eight match.

Faced with a do or die situation today, the 9th of May, they did exactly the same against the West Indies--winning the toss again and deciding to field again. It's common logic that if you have a strong batting side you bat first and build a huge total. In crunch games the chasing side is always under pressure even with low totals like Pakistan failed against New Zealand by one run. Then again, if you want to play spinners you should field second as wickets are supposed to slow down in the second innings. But no, Mahendra Singh Dhoni never cared and managed to lose the match again taking his team virtually out of the World Cup.

You know it's the IPL trick. In those grueling 45 days Team India stars made all the money they wanted, satisfied their bosses and entertained the cricket revelers. Enough was enough. Now they want rest. Why should they bother about so called national pride and loyalties? Their understanding Board did the right thing by resting most stars in the next   tri-series in Zimbabwe.

With Lalit Modi finally out, better scrap IPL too and ban the form of T20 cricket itself. Else, a luxurious bed is likely to be the next best alternative for Team India. When not playing IPL, you see!