So, the dream has ended.
England have knocked the defending World Champions out of the 2009 edition.
It's a pity we couldn't even make the semis.
It's a pity we played the way we played, given the talent and the billing the team always enjoyed.
Wish Bhajji - despite his excellent bowling otherwise - had enough wits about him to atleast not spray the ball way down the leg side (and fast at that!), only to give away 5 runs, along with an extra ball - not even once, but TWICE! - and certainly, not on the last ball of the innings!!!!
Couldn't Dhoni have just had a quiet word with him before atleast that last ball of the innings, especially when he had kept that over tight - just to remind Bhajji to ensure no extras were conceded?
Mind you, I don't have a problem with the opposition playing well, but to gift the match away by making crucial, basic errors is a cardinal sin.
By the way, I would have still castigated the bowler and the captain for the aforementioned instance in the aforementioned way, even if India had won.
Why was RP Singh not bowled for his entire quota, when he had bowled so well?
I can still live with the idea of promoting Jadeja if you try to understand Dhoni's intent - it was not such a bad idea after all, to have him up at #4, so that the bigger players were not lost before the 10th over, and the scoreboard would have kept moving.
Even if Jad would have got out, he wouldn't have been as big a loss as a Yuvraj or Dhoni or Yusuf and again, if he were to come down the order with the asking rate at 9+ or 10+, it would not have served him well there too. Wouldn't we have then said it was too much to ask from the inexperienced youngster?
So all in all, when it came to using his experience and playing style, I think it was better he came when he did. The only problem was that he took too many balls, he could have taken atleast 5-10 balls less than he actually did, and that's where Dhoni too missed a trick. He should have given instructions to the youngster to get on with it, definitely when the halfway mark of the innings had been crossed.
Why was Jadeja not told to hit out or get out, when he was clearly struggling? When he eventually holed out, it seemed he was more happy than the bowler for putting him out of his misery.
If you face good bowling, as India did, I still don't mind the slow start, but atleast the basic, school-level errors could've been avoided.
A little more common-sensical approach, a dash of enjoyment and intensity in the field and on the pitch in gaining an extra run with hard running, and a little more communication from the captain - is all I have a complaint against.
Yes, we could still have lost, but atleast I wouldn't mind it as much if we tried and gave our best, but lost just because the other team came better on the day.
Anyway, just as with wins, let's hope that we don't get carried away too much.
This is just an emotional outburst, and I am sure our team has enough talent to win more often than lose.
I'm sure the guys are just as disappointed as the others, if not more.
But just hope the intensity and enjoyment never get flagged, as it seemed to happen last night at Lord's.
