A nice one
Who told our players to attend IPL parties everyday and the players very well knew that T20 world cup is approaching and still they attended parties, got drunk, danced with girls and did many more and in the end cursing these parties making as the sole reason for bad performance in world cup. The reason is that the players are very immature, IPL gave them money and fame too early in their life due to which they are on skies now days with lot of ego and over confidence.
As it is said"gettin success too early can be a curse" BCCI gave them success too early specially to Mr.DHONI.
I blame Dhoni to be the sole reason for bad performance.

Dhoni is being actually quite modest in his excuses. The REAL reason for the debacle is the change in color in uniforms for Indians. They change the color of the uniform from light blue to dark blue and then still expect players to perform? Now, is it even fair?
Dear Dhoni,
A few other millionaires were also 'taking a toll on their same body in IPL, which they used to win games in T20 WC' Plz try better next time. Your luck is running out.

Typical third world mentality of Indians. No wonder India is still a dump.

It sounds like Dhoni is trying to come out against the IPL circus without being obvious about it (lack of obviousness is to avoid BCCI ire). He's saying what Kirsten said last year..

Please excuse me while I rant..but this reminds me of a trek I went on organised in the mountains of a certain African country - the organisers were more intent on making money than providing satisfaction to their customers. The BCCI is just as inept as far as I am concerned.

I dont understand the point of blaming IPL and its parties. India did not the lose in the 20-20 WC coz of tiredness or lack of motivation. They were thoroughly outplayed by all the teams. The team was just not good enough for the 20-20 format. All the other teams have made significant progress while India has not.

option (b)also wouldn't have been a mere option for most of the players, do you think that the team owners would have let them take rest n sleep than being the main attraction of these parties and when Mtv was telecasting it? May be the senior players would have been able to, but as the junior members , many of the unwilling [Yuvraj likes excluded from any of my assumptions]would have been forced to be a part of these sleaze parties.

why is mat6chfixer azhar commenting on cricket now?

In those parties there were Sri Lankans, Australians, West Indians and English also. 3 of those 4 teams are in Semi Final - Excuses by Dhoni & Party ???

Non sense article partying has nothing to do with this, the writer is just cashing on Dhoni's comments. We lost it fair and square, denying it will further elude the performance. Dhoni's is a poor, pathetic and guileless captain, always making excuses. Players are very well paid, does not matter how many matches they play if they cannot perform they should be replaced and the hospitals can revive them if they are worth. Play good cricket learn from legends in the team (Sachin Tendulkar)Time for Dhoni to go

Believe me, its India team is not at all good enough to in T20 world cup. Both bowling (which is worse than Australian 2nd Div team) and batting are unfit for that level.Blind supporters should worry on their work and not lose their time in watching these bunch of nutcases and at the same time BCCI should get a better panel for team selection. Looks Kris is going blind!!!

Dhoni is lying. 100%.
A liar.
While pressure is there from IPL authorities to participate in late night parities to sell all expensive tickets, our boys are not naive at all. Yuvaraj Singh - a veteran of several years- flashes more on tabloid than on the cricket ground. Dhoni's excuse is in pale contrast to his walkout with team players last year to boycott the media.
Dhoni - You lost your integrity as well.

This Dhoni must be stripped of his captaincy. He is a blumbering fool. Before T20 WC he said IPL had nothing to do witht their perofrmance and now he is claiming hte parties tired them out. How stupid.

It is true that Indians were outplayed by other teams. Can we for a moment consider Dhoni who is a captain and on the field with the players all the time, may be in a better position to know about the situation on the ground? We are blindly criticizing Dhoni for his comments. If you are a good sportsman you know what happens after the late night parties and then you are asked to jog next morning. True, no one forced them to be in parties (And who knows whether this is true either?) but now that we know the effects, why can't we stop these parties. Are we further going to test "mind and body" or we want to improve our cricket and win. Take measures for God sake! Someone just said: "Who are we to impose on someone's lifestyle.". For your kind info, we ARE kids as compared to teams like Australia. There needs to be hard measures so that we can discipline ourselves in the future. So, I think Dhoni comments make sense. Better late than never.

I think as Manjrekar mentioned somewhere that its a lack of confidence ( lacking their very own spirit ) and an attitude to win even a single match in the super 8s.

The fact that we all(including myself) are wasting our time to read this post and then comment on this has made these undeserving, flamboyant hooligans into "suckers"
Somebody in the thread is worried about India being a third world country....well yes it is!!! and will be until we waste time and money on cricket for instance...theres a long list though.
Believe me, if we treat cricket as a game, we'll have a cleaner..a more disciplined team.
Dhoni should have just said..."We played bad, as nobody was interested in this W T20"

Guys, before blaming our players; keep in the mind the pressure they are under to attend at those parties hosted by their "Bollywood & Businessmen" bosses. These bosses don't care about cricket and what they want is exposure. And barring top Big players, others cannot even dare to say NO to these guys. Adding to that Mr.Modi, commissioner of IPL at that time wouldn't be happy to see his IPL baby not getting enough brand value because of absence of the players

Prasanna is right. Other teams especially Aussies have progressed immensely since the first world cup. there is a lot we could learn from these guys in sports. Root cause in the order of IPL (giving these guys a false sense of supremacy),BCCI (quality of indian pitches) and the players' qualities.

When MSD is complaining about the late night parties, he is actually complaining about the lack of them. Because of the IPL, the Indian cricketers were so used to parties, babes and booze that without these the players just could not perform. The BCCI should take this strongly with ICC to ensure that all future T20 tournaments have late-night parties.

all commenters here: there are 8 teams trying to win ok??
at the end of it one has to lose...and one has to win...each team employs stratgies to out with the other.. when india won in 2007 their strategies worked and this year its different. its the nature of the game. as along as one is giving their best , commenting about how well it went or how bad it went is meaningless.the guys in in the indian team play the sport that they love and spectators must remain spectators!

India lost ecause there was no Sachin ;)! Prahu-ji aapko miss kiya.

I wish that the writer had done some research before writing this article. There was a contract signed by the IPL which required that at least the home team players must attend the IPL parties. That could also be the reason most of the players went to the parties. I believe there is some merit to what Dhoni has to say and he should be given a chance.

I feel its the fault of players for not performing at par and also of BCCIs, for making poor selections. I still believe sending Murali Vijay to the WC was one of the poor selection decisions made in this debacle. Where were the like of Uthappa and Pragyan Ojha, who performed in IPL. Also, to some extent I believe IPL should be shortened and there should be interval between IPL and important series like the WC.

IPL is just more entertainment than cricket. Tournaments like World Cup are important from a country's point of view. After all, what's the use of playing explosive matches in a national tournament and crashing out of an International tournament where your country's name is at stake?

They were not trained/conditined for World cup.They did't had time.Unlike IPL..over here they are facing fast bowlers in lively pitch.And they did't had the best team or plyaers are in form.Robin uthappa and Ifran pathan,Ishanth's bowling could fit lively pitch.Our selctors/captain has lot theie mind.what is yuvaraj doing in our team.He don't even know to field/bat or bowl.

India hosts IPL,the world comes to play in india and india does not qualify even for the world cup semis. How dare they (ICC) can do this to BCCI? Cant the BCCI and its cronies like Lalit Modi buy out the world cup organisers (ICC), entice them with greasy contracts and rig these matches too, so that India wins.

Also, it is BCCI fault too, how can they expect the Indian players to play in world cup matches at a fraction of the price than what they get for playing in the IPL, come on you cant do that. Also where are the cheer leaders and the night out parties with booze during the world cup, the indian players do not get tired with these things, instead they get the kick to perform better. Also give each of them a bollywood actress as a girlfriend and look how they will win every match for you.

Also, please dont give them all the crap about playing for your country and preach them about patriotism etc, it is after all the money that counts.

Indian team motto ( alias monkies )-

Show me the money and honey and see how I play.

Every single person is a Judge and a critic in India. Be it a TV debate audience or Cricket or Politics, every person has his/her 2 Bits, with half baked & misinformed knowledge that is based mostly on emotional outburst. Give it a week or two and all of you will disappear from this topic and get back to praising & going gaga over this same team no sooner they win another tournament. There are quite a few very valid reasons why team india failed but I will not comment on those except to say that we Indians must stop worshipping the Cricketers and treating them as Demi-Gods. Stop those advsertisements like " Him Jitke Le Ayenge yeh World Cup". Indian Corporates and their advertising agents please stop using these Sportsmen for adverts, paying them crores every month. Where is the URGE to win and where is the zeal to hold the COUNTRY as first and foremost. 80% of them dont even know the words of "Jana Gana Mana Adhinayek Jaya He...." Its really really sad. As one Blogger said, we are nothing but a BANANA REPUBLIC based on pseudo philisophies. God bless you all.

Yeup.....I really like this article. Cricket is a glamour sports in India, and IPL is even more glamorous. IPL comes with lot of glitz, money, party and babes, not just cricket. So as party and attention hungry Indian cricketers are, unlike Sachin Tendulkar, these so called studs fall for this glamour. I am not surprised that Dhoni came up with silly excuses of failure, he is grown up in a culture and system where failure is often overlooked. As long as they are playing well in India and winning unimportant, irrelevant matches and bilateral series in India, they are worshiped. Indian cricket players lack motivation and desire to do well in world championship because they are already rewarded handsomely in India with sponsorship and IPL. So why play well and prove yourself in world stage when you can earn enough money back home? Not everyone is Madan Lal or Tiger Pataudi while representing India, their chest sizes grew bigger in pride and responsibility, which made up more than their cricketing ability. Shame shame our cricketing studs, barring Sachin Tendulkar.

Please put India before anyone, even our parents, make money nothing wrong with it, but please do not have IPL in the same year when there is a world cup. Because we are Indians first. INDIA is bigger than anyone's personal agenda.

I have read through comments on the debacle on many sites through the internet, and people have come in so far, they want the head of Dhoni.

Question 1. Who do you think can replace Dhoni as captain at this moment?
Question 2. If Dhoni has made his concerns voiced there might be something wrong to prove by him. So does he not get the chance of proving himself correct?
Question 3. Who said players from the semi finalist teams had also played the IPL? Does anyone recall David Warner and Shane Watson playing more than 12 matches? Did anyone see Kapugedra hitting sixes through the tournament? Oh ok, I remember we did have Ryan Sidebottom with his amazing inswinging yorkers right?

The teams that have left early from the WC: New Zealand, South Africa, India and West Indies.
Major Players who played IPL : Graeme Smith, Jaques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Albie Morkel, AB de Villiers, Charl Langevedlt, Johan Botha, R.Van de Merve
and lastly JP Duminy. (guys this makes the SA Playing eleven players)

Does anyone want to count the WI players? their half team was playing the IPL, though it does not matter if they win or loose, coz their team is the one that lacks motivation! NZ had their main players playing in the IPL. England just had KP, Collingwood, Lumb and Bopara playing, rest of the team has had a beautiful time relaxing at home. Even with pathetic performances Pakistan has made it to Semis. From the SL team, Sanga, Mahela, Malinga and Mathews have played throughout the tournament.Oh Yes I remember Yuvraj hit Randiv for 4 sixes during the Kings and Rajasthan game. Welagedra played for Knight Riders and Kapugedra was the batting allrounder for Dhoni during the IPL!!

Has anyone taken this scenario in consideration? I think we need to stop blaming our players, rather ask BCCI to take responsibilities correctly.

Why no questions asked to the selection committee? It is 95% there responsibility for picking novices.It high time we do away with zonal representation of selecters.

Dhoni is just being candid. For the money these players are getting paid in IPL, they are expected to grace these parties. There is the delicate line of offending the sponsors. In an already packed schedule, why have these parties?

Unless Dhoni and Selection Committee Chairman Mr. Srikanth do not stop their personal agendas, India won't win in future also. It seems that there are 4 factions in the team: 1) Seniors like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Zaheer, 2) Sehwag, Gambhir, Ishaant and Amit Mishra, 3) Yuvraj, Chawla, Irfan Pathan and Srisanth and 4) Dhoni, Raina, M Vijay and Karthick (Chennai Gang). Dhoni does not say anything against seniors but he is sideling them with purpose. Selection of M Vijay is plasible ahead of Virat Kohli, one can vouch that Virat has more experience, skill and temprament than M Vijay. You are selecting Karthick as wicket-keeper but utilizing him as a opner (what a logic). How can be Jadeja better than Irfan in bowling or batting, Jadeja is Dhoni's man. Unless somebody takes action against Dhoni, he will destroy careers of Piyush Chwala, Irfan Pathan and so on; Dhoni will bring players which will listen to him.

Indian players are bunch of spoil brets. If these would have happend to Australia, the ppl of australia would boycott them. Problem lies with indian ppl. stop watching cricket and boycott them and then see how they come on right track. and why would u keep playing yuvraj singh in all the games. He didnt do anything in the world cup.

When ever Indian cricketers do badly only frivolous reasons are handed out to hide the real reasons. Selection on merit (how an unfit Yuvraj could be in the team and Jadeja sneaking in without playing IPL), preparing bouncy wickets in India (Indian batsmen are tigers on low bounce pitches), Senior player syndrome (where they treat juniors as their errand boys) and finally total corruption (bollywood, underworld and betting connections) are the actual reasons.
Cheers Raj

Party or no party, the team was jaded, no doubt! Bcci is responsible for it. with all the money it has we can have at least five teams of equal caliber. BCCI is not promoting cricket,but only business part of it.

It appalls me to see people call for Dhoni's sacking. We Indians are known for short memories when it comes to Cricket...no one seems to remember the part Dhoni's captaincy played in taking India to No 1 in tests. Sure the players are not naive and can say no to the IPL parties but imagine the kind of pressure they'd be under from cashed up team owners??? Dhoni's own team boss is a bigshot in the BCCI with considerable influence...so would Dhoni have the guts to say 'No' to him?? I don't think so. Put yourself in his shoes and imagine. Dhoni's the best choice for Indian cricket right now and he's probably already in the Top 3 Indian captains of all time.

The last line about Vishwanathan Anand, says it all. A true and great champion.If the 'Men in blue' were half as macho when they face fast short pitched bowling as they are in advertisements, they might get somewhere. Blame the selectors for persisting with no-hopers. Learn from Australia. They have pride while playing for their country

MS Dhoni's explanation is pure nonsense.

Can't quite understand that if late night partying did not affect their performance during the IP, how the hell did it affect their performance in the World Cup :-))

I have read this at several places that the parties were not included in the contract but were mandatory otherwise. Only big stars like Sachin could say no to them. Others just had to attend.

And the short ball thing struck me. We had so many young players who had not played international cricket on fast pitches since months. It could be that they were out-of-practice.

Besides, its just an IPL tournament. Whats the big deal if India lost it ? We are at the top in test anyways. Minus T20, India has been doing pretty well in most cricket.

My dear countrymen! PLEASE APPRECIATE THAT FACT THAT IT WAS T20 WORLD CUP FOR MEN. We did considerably be beating Afganistan. Keep up 'boys'...sorry,if I have offended the 'boys'.

Probably late night parties are somewhat responsible

Non of our bolwers clicked ??
Even new bowlers we exposed to foreign players in IPL

Same was not in case of Pakistan

Yusuf Vijay Jadeja Singh
wee big flops

Dhoni can be a decent captain or not, he can sure make a great politician!!!
From saying "Bus travel from airport to match venue is more tiring than IPL" just a week ago to blaming the whole lose on IPL parties the guy exhibits the shamelessness typical of our politicians.

For anyone who takes the help of tactics, it is obvious that Dhoni had a major role to play in all the 3 defeats in super 8. He goofed up with team selection in 2 matches, leaving even opposite captains wondering why india went so defensive, and despite those when india was in a real chance to qualify at 90/2 in 10 overs in the do or die match, he promoted himself and ensured we die.

The real intention behind Dhoni twisting his tounge on IPL and repeatedly bringing up the point of short pitch weakness is really to mislead the country and make it look into other minor factors and not notice his crucial blunders.

India which has always been fooled by the politicians, will fall to dhoni as well, for sure!!!!!

It is the most pathetic excuse for such a display,at the World cup. Half the players from different teams played in the IPL,but some of them have reached the final Four.
Stop their damn arrogance and put a limit on their taking part in TV commercials.Indian people have made them what they are.So stop blaming these 15 Idiots.!!!!!!!!

Dhoni is correct, party comes first, who care if We win or lose a match in world cup, after all who care about a billion peoples sentiment attached with cricket. Goto party, get drunk, dance with girls that is the way a crickter shold be ... Right Mr. dhoni

BULLSHIT. PLAYERS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES ALSO PARTIED. BE MEN FOR A CHANGE STOP PASSING THE BUCK AND ADMIT THAT YOU GUYS ARE JUST NAMBY PAMBY AND DONT HAVE IT IN YOU. BETTER DEAL WOULD BE TO TRAIN ARMY COMMANDOS WHO HAVE IT IN THEM INSPITE OF ALL EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES WOULD STILL BE FIGHTING FIT!

Who does the author think he is ? Dhoni just said the IPL parties took a toll. Sounds pretty harmless to me. Certainly it wasn't an explanation. This is classic example of Indian Media's distortion of facts and making a storm out of a teacup. You need to self regulate . Learn from "the Hindu".

Dear MSD,
I want to be a cricketer cum model, I need some tips from you and your guys. I am preparing well for that I do practice cricket once a week but I take my modeling very seriously. I try to take modeling lessons everyday. I am also starting to drink looking at you guys and started to go into late night parties as well. I hope yuvi can give me some tips on how to maintain my physic.When yuvi started his career he was slim n trim but now he has a pot belly that shows his professionalism. I should learn something from him. In the end, I would say please give me a chance to play one cricket match I would prove to be supermodel.

Best regards,
yours (yuvidhoni)

I think many of the 'BOYS' who played were unfit in terms of physical fitness and ability wise - The list includes Yuvi, Zaheer, Gauti, Paveen Kumar, Yusuf Pathan, Jadeja... the list is endless. We should come to terms with the fact that the players are inferior in fitness levels and in their ability to play stiff international competition. So we better stop pampering these 'BOYS' and look to real 'MEN' like V Anand & Saina Nehwal and encourage other sports like HOCKEY, BOXING, BADMINTON, SHOOTING etc.

Cricket is less of sports but more of Business and Politics now.If u lose like this, than ppl have to find some reason or excuse - Dhoni can not be fully wrong to say that IPL ( IPL business) has destroyed cricket as sports,at least for team India

The reasons other than cricket is being given by MSD and all the media / experts. Many international stars (Jayawardene, Sanga, Malinga, Mendis, Ryan Harris, Hussey brothers, Kallis, Dale Steyn, Gibbs, Vettori, Collingwood, Pieterson, Gayle, etc....) were also part of the IPL circus. This is simply absurd.
The fact of the matter is, our batsmen could'nt handle fast and bouncy balls. The player selection was faulty and strategy adopted for each game was very wrong. For these things, MSD has to own the mistakes.
In fact, IPL is a boon, so that our lessser known players can interact with inter national super stars and thats a fantastic experience for them.

The very thought of Dhoni's is ridiculous to say the least. If you party hard and travel next morning, how come the player's performance was not affected in the next IPL match? Does it take 2 weeks and some other match for fatigue to come to the fore? If the player's performance had been affected in the next match, then it is obvious to blame the previous nights party. Blaming it now does not help. Please remember Dhoni's comment when CSK entered semifinals: "Owners pay us so much, that it is our obligation to reach semis". Wonder why he did not make such a comment and did not feel obligatory to push Team India into semis. Is it that he can only thrash the likes of Irfan Pathan, but is utterly helpless when it comes to facing Perera, Thushara, Randive? If you notice his pre- SL match utterances, it was as though he was tired and wanted to get back. He did not even think there was a chance for us to reach semis, when staticians did mention the possibility. Winning by 20runs was not an unthinkable idea especially when you are 90/1 after 10 overs. Promoting himself and not trying to even get out makes me think whether he really wanted to play anymore in WC.

Mr Dhoni,
Do not misguide people, when you won IPL you only said in reply to question that Winning IPL give better pleasure then T-20 ,2007 so now Country not important and Money/Glamour is most important. All fans of IPL is also to be blamed I don't think that people much interested in watching IPL Matches but in watching Cheerleader. Let us except we still have to walk long to see cheerleader on ground.

Well written article.However Dhoni's "in your face" attitude of defiance reflects the mindset these players have.Let me make it clear the IPL parties were optional,Sachin and Sehwag didnot attend the parties.However these crazy small town players were dazzled by the parties completely ignoring all norms and regulations.Likes of Yuvi and Dhoni were found missing from the hotels very often.Complaint was lodged with the IPL by the security personel however it was covered up since the ipl party success was important to the owners.Dhoni and co needs to learn from Sachin and display the same motivation/determination/passion on the field to instill any further faith in his capability as a player.The selectors should stop favoritism and select on pure merit.

Just one big point...it was not the Indian players alone who were "subject" to parties and wrokload, there were Aussies, Windies, English, Sri Lankans as well. Dont think Dirk Nannes, Chris Gayle, Dave Warner, Mahela Jayawardene, Mailnga and sevral others have done that badly....

If MSD says that partying was the factor... look into it..He is the captain of indian cricket Team.. not just a blogger in TOI.Let BCCI alo look deep into it and decide... they also enjoyed the partying..what BCCi will definitely do is to sack Dhoni from captainacy... and save their face and there will blogs anad comments and counter comments.

I do not understand why people should be outraged at Dhoni's comments. I think many of the sports columnists were commenting in a similar vein much before the IPL started. Attending parties may not have been mandatory, but with an arrogant, all-powerful Lalit Modi in charge, you jump and dance when he tells you to - you dont have a choice. Of course, when you have very little choice, you join the bandwagon! "Behti Ganga Mein Aap Bhi Haath Dho Lo!" The World Cup? Who cares? Win or lose, it makes very little difference monetarily. If you miss out in IPL (like Jadeja did) you lose out on a hell of a lot of money.And since there are 3 formats in cricket, the chances are that you might click in one of the formats and the public's interest in the game will continue. So, enjoy!

All players in the Indian cricket team are employees of BCCI. They are paid, and paid very well, to do their job,i.e, play cricket to the best of their abilities. If they fail in their duty, they should be reprimanded/sacked just like in any other business organization. To put the blame for non-performance on parties,etc is just not on. The players should know what need to do do and what to avoid if they have to perform on the field. If you cannot handle the heat, don't go in the kitchen !!!

Kick dhoni out of the team he has brought misery to the indian team only the asthetics have become obsolete bcoz of him. Sourav Ganguly is the only crickter who can win India World Cup. If we can win T20 world cup, one should forget thinking about winning 50 over world cup in 2011. Game Over Mr. Dhoni All Luck Cant Win You Greatness

everyone is jumping at poor MSD..he is to be blamed for the tactical errors of team selection and batting first..but, what he has said is the same that the author has also pointed out...MSD has said that "some players did party and hence probably found it difficult to manage their body and this may have affected their game"..THIS IS A FACT, isnt it?Why is everyone jumping on him as then people will start speaking the truth?MSD is probably sending a signal to BCCI/Selectors that IPL parties should not be there in future and secondly, maybe the players who indulge, should not be picked. Having said all this, it is just one of the reasons and NOT THE ONLY REASON..MSD has said other things too and no one bothers about those...If we had scored 20-25 runs more against aussies, if we had caught chris gayle, maybe we would have gone thru..apart from our batting failures...so, we lost out purely on cricketing reasons and i think MSD knows it very well..but he is sending a msg to BCCI/Selectors about IPL/certain players...i am not MSD's die-hard fan or something but just felt that we are as usual over-reacting...

Team India don't have to worry about loosing international tournaments as they can always blame it on parties, booze, babes, weather, fatigue, and what not.

It's shocking that people are speaking out against Dhoni when he spells out the truth. Yes, Indians may not handle the slow ball well, but there were some players who could and when they too faltered consistently, it's evident the bodies couldn't keep up with the rigour. Dhoni had emphatically mentioned on an interview in the NDTV immediately after the IPL that he didn't attend a single party without stating the reason. He or a Sachin has the prerogative to decide. Other's don't. IT'S THE TRUTH. Anshul, check the inside facts before opinionating blatantly.

Very true. This is rediculous to blame IPL parties since it is upto players to go there and enjoy with babes............ bulshit team india

Blaa Blaa Blaa after the next victory (against Zimbabwe)all will be forgotten.

Team India lost to short pitch bowling from the opposition team bowlers, can't understand why our bowlers can't bowl short pitch stuff to the opposition batmen. Every batsmen is vulnerable to well directed short pitch bowling. IPL parties is just an excuse, a good sleep and diet can get our body back to normal. Poor Team selection is another factor for a below par performance.

Ha, ha... nice to read. Such a stupid comment was not expected from someone like Dhoni. I have immense trust and respect for our captain and this comments was a real letdown. Guess they really need a session from V. Anand. The world champion was relegated to the last page of most newspapers despite his feat whereas we saw front page photos of "post match parties". This sums it up all.

This is pathetic Anshul as you are still wasting time writing about that game which has never and I am sure will never bring glory to the country.
Do we Indians have lot time to waste on such silly things? Man, look at the IPL millions of people turn to watch the matches this means we have enough time to waste and still we cry about our development.
I really laugh when I see Media presenting shows on cricket. Dude Media, I just want to request there are many bigger and important things which you can do.

So Wake up guys now and dont f*** your time....

Dhoni blamed late night parties and travelling in IPL as the reason for poor performance. In fact the reasons are much more fundamental. IPL's customers are cricket fans and the product addresses the Industry called Entertainment. IPL has made deadly cocktailof two streams of entertainment i.e. Glamour including Bollywood, Modelling, Late night parties etc with Cricket. The requirements for these two streams are different being two different profession. IPL is concieved by likes of Lalit Modi purely for business end where quality of cricket takes a backseat. In cricket the requirement is of skill, dedication, application, motivation, practice and do not permit re-takes. The actors of these two streams comes from entireley different background. While glamour world is generally by the youngsters who are rich and well to do whereas our cricketers are generally having modest background of lower and lower middle class and grown in gali mohallas of towns, kasbas. After attaining quick success if they are thrown into glamour world with lot of money and asked to rub shoulders with Bollywood stars and models the results are likely to be disasterous. It does not make any sense to say now that these players should not have been to the parties or made money or led a balanced nor it can be believed that they have option to refuse. In India how many youngsters eschew money. It is natural that these players fall prey to glamour and unlikely they will be ever be able to manage cricket, money, glamour. In the health care industry one do not mix up a cardiologist with a paeditrician or in Engineering Industry one do not mix up a electrical engineering with civil engineering. Then why do we mix up cricket with glamour and foreign players. Foreign players a few IPL matches and take the money and the Indians play all the matches. IPL benefits only businessman politician BCCI. Already it is mired in controversies of corruption and casting its shadow on Indian Cricket.

Does it really matter to the indian team that so many of us are discussing this debacle? they very well know that a minor victory with any small team in the near future is enough to set their cash tills ringing as a whole nation has been made to understand by the media that there is no sport greater than cricket and there are no sportsmen greater than the cricketers!!! Not many people in our country know who an usain bolt or a isimbayeva or lebron james or haile gebrasellasie or a roger federer is!!! It reflects very very poorly on the nations sporting culture. Even in cricket our cricketers look hardly the sportsmen compared to the aussies or for that matter the srilankans. Looking at the body structure of those teams one can see the amount of time those sportsmen spent in training in the gym and on the ground but just look at an yuvraj singh,rohit sharma, sehwag etc their tummies jiggle and wiggle as they run!! Fail to understand even after making million what stops then from having the motivation to train and practise. They know that unlike other countries in india the so called established and talented cricketers are like govt. employees they cannot be ousted for atleast a minimum term of 15 years!! India's record of blooding young talent iam sure would be the worst among all cricket playing nations. Any amount of criticism is not going to change the indian cricket scene as it has remained the same for 60 years with some bright spots (flukes) in between.As long as the media supports this game there will be no sporting culture in this country and we will continue to languish in the world of sport for generations to come.

Considering their (cricketer's) way of life, some might question "Vishwanathan Anand, Who is he..
For these players IPL has become life... Playing for country is a pass-time.

after reading all comments / replies....had a hearty laugh.

Dhoni is simply toeing the lines given by his BCCI bosses, who want to show lalit modi being the cause of this mindless drama.

BCCI jokers want to pocket the millions and also mess up the scene. None of the chaps love Indian cricket - bcci & players.

can't we all see thru that....commom.

Well written article.However Dhoni's "in your face" attitude of defiance reflects the mindset these players have.Let me make it clear the IPL parties were optional,Sachin and Sehwag didnot attend the parties.However these crazy small town players were dazzled by the parties completely ignoring all norms and regulations.Likes of Yuvi and Dhoni were found missing from the hotels very often.Complaint was lodged with the IPL by the security personel however it was covered up since the ipl party success was important to the owners.Dhoni and co needs to learn from Sachin and display the same motivation/determination/passion on the field to instill any further faith in his capability as a player.The selectors should stop favoritism and select on pure merit.time for Gambhir/Jadeja/Yuvraj to be relegated to Ranji to prove merit for selection.Gambhir needs to work on his shot selection especially on the short balls.M. Vijay does not deserve a place in t20 format.It would be worthwhile for our pace battery to serve a mandatory english county training to improve bowling skills.It is high time that Dhoni accepts that he failed the nation;its fair since these players are quick to accept and expect laurels in cash and kind for any victory.

Former players wudnt have slammed the Indian team, if they wud hav said we tried but we lost... then its understood win & lost is part of game.

But giving chidish excuses like "There have been day-night matches, then parties, and early morning flights too. All this, including the travel, takes a toll".... same david warner,suresh raina, nannes, watson, hussey, mahela, tait were there in ipl as wel as parties... they are still performing...

If you loose just say we los dnt say bcoz... ipl, parties thats not sportmanship

I think it’s like the difference between govt job and the private sector job At IPL there is pressure to perform from franchisees whereas at T20 these players feel the job security of a govt job. Unless selectors exhibit the private sector norms for their own performance the players’ behavior will remain recalcitrant.

I believe giving this childish excuse, then media takin dhoni's case for next one week then former players will comment then BCCI then team members then coach till that all will forget lalit modi's case all planned... media just giving hype so that every1 forgets lalit modi scam...

Once india wins aganst ZIM then we will 4gets WC2010...

then media will say dhoni shud frm captancy & raina shud placed as captain coz he won ZIM series handsomely...

I wont b supried if I see shrikanth fat son in India XI aganst ZIM, wen vinay can there in place of inform Uttappa

Learn from Sachin, Dravid, Kumble and old seniors.. For them Cricket is/was every thing.
For Yuvi, Bhajji, Dhoni, Srishanth, Cricket is money, babes, late parties,getting missig from Hotels....

What a waste of space, time and energy !! Cmon guys, its just a game, not the end of the world.

Well i think its unfair to blame the players for the fiasco completely . Please keep in mind the schedule of the matches , IPL parties etc were known fact to BCCI as well the dear author but never did it come in picture before the world cup . Now since India have lost , every one is writin about this . I hope every one realizes players are not machine and it was bound to happen .
The blame should go to BCCI who were too busy to mint money w/o taking care of players schedule and yeah yeah Parties!!!

Who played better Pakistan or India?

Sorry to say but this is a very poor analysis of the whole event. MSD's mention of late night IPL parties was just one of the many things he mentioned as the cause for the poor performance. To make that a headline of this post clearly proves that you are no better than journalists of IndiaTV and the rest who create news where none exists.
Its easy to say the players have the choice to not attend the parties but quite another to think that the team owner's request can be turned down so easily. IPL is all about money and a lot is at stake even beyond the contract. To make this kind of inference again shows the lack of understanding of the issue by you. Dont think you are fit enuff to comment on such issues.
At this point I would like to point out that the BCCI President Shashank Manohar has already announce that the IPL parties will be banned from next year without even debating the issue. The fact that MSD made this comment now is being used to accuse him of using an excuse. Maybe a blunt talking MSD is far better than people like you who have little idea what they are talking about but that doesnt stop them from opening their mouth and making an ass of themselves.

Shut up and listen.. these folks can win the T20 Women's cup and with the experience gained in IPL night games, they can probably win the jacketball World cup too.

ONLY **Crazy** people will hover around these topics and talk about it.
Any person with little common sense left in them will know that almost the entire Sri lankan team, most of SA and a lot of Aussies too played and a lot of them are screwing India nicely.

Infact, Angelo Mathews is playing in World cup better than he played for KKR.
Comon, thats responsibility and work ethics. Indians are only trying to catch up with worth ethics to international standards...

Sports is different and needs a sense of desperate-ness to achieve consistency which our guys lack.

No one points specifically to lack of Indian bowling. Indian bowling is not at all aggressive (not just in this tournament but always). The fact that good IPL teams have outside bowlers proves the point. CSK was struggling until Bollinger arrived who is not faster than lot of other Indian bowlers. Its just the intelligence - Indians are not consistently intelligent fast bowlers. We have spinners but what the heck - english spin bowlers performed superbly than us.

Shame shame. All the worst things know your name.

The main issue at hand is the inability of Indians to handle the short ball. I have been following Indian cricket from 1971. The issue remains unresolved in the past 40 years. I do not mean Dravid's style of leaving it well. I mean the ability to hit a short ball for 4 or 6. This is the main issue. Partying, IPL, fitness etc are secondary issues. Now the richest body in World cricket, can you put some artifical turf and ensure that every player is fed 100 delivers at chin height every day? The only guy who can score 70-80 boundaries out of 100 should be selected for T20.Make them practice with real cricket balls with a bowling machine and not wet tennis balls.

i wonder no budy is talking about the selectorswho selected the team for t20.actually dhoni is like a driver to whom a punctur bus is given and dhoni in his over confidence decided to drive it in race.actual responcible are cheif selector k. shrikant who was also related to CSK, the BCCI for such a continious playing schedule ,and dhoni for irresponcible capt.yuvraj yusuf and r.jadeja are not commentable.

Wonderful, a very beautiful and apt article for the OH SO POOR PERFORMANCE and a MUCH MORE PATHETIC EXCUSE. I thing I would like to add is that the team selectors must take only players fit to play in series.
Oh by the way, Indian cricket team has chose to bat in the ICC T20 semifinal ( of course the I am talking about women cricketers), so BEST OF LUCK to them

DON'T WORRY MY DEAR INDIANS, AS YOU HAVE REPEATEDLY PROVEN THAT YOU GUYS ARE EXTREMELY SCARED OF PITCHES WHICH HAVE EVEN LITTLE BIT OF BOUNCE, EVEN A 5 YEAR OLD CAN BAT WELL ON FLAT AND DEAD PITCHES..hehehehehe......NOT TO TALK ABOUT YOUR SO CALLED FAST BALLERS.......hehehehehe........
SO YOU BETTER START SUPPORTING YOUR BELOVED NEIGHBOUR PAKISTAN, WE WOULD BRING WORLD CUP TO SOUTH ASIA, JUST LIKE THE LAST TIME.

I love the remark at the end, especially the comparision with the all time great Viswanathan Anand. His dedication, hardwork and commitment, prior to and during tournaments is unparalleled and not worth comparing to 90% of our Indian cricketers, lazy ********. Sachin is the saving grace. We should all lynch these guys if they perform so badly.

Indian cricket team is a bunch of losers with no class. Now they are making excuses. Each one of them make tons of money and when it's time to play for the country they choke. Gone are those classy players like Sachin, Saurav, Rahul, Kumble and Laxman whom I never heard complaining aftering. BCCI is also to be blamed for making these players arrogant. The players think that they can get away with this crap. Shame on the Indian cricket team.

Sack the disobeying players however senior they may be. Follow the Pakistan example after their Australian debacle. Players like Mohd Yosusuf, Younis khan and Shaoib Malik can be saked why not Yuvraj and other of his group.

Can't only blame IPL parties... Most of our players if not attending IPL parties are seen leaving late night fro actreses homes.... Why not stay at home and reserve your energy for next day

Oh really! Partying drained these scumbags? and still they were partying immediately after the horrible loss against Sri Lanka, just to get drained more? What nonsense is this? These bunch of eunuchs who are only interested in money and filth/chasing girls and hardly even willing to represent the country are not even worthy of wearing that T-shirt or dress with the name India printed on it. These guys are so utterly disgusting and still they are so arrogant and still think of themselves to be heroes.

“Parties pooped us out” - How preposterous a statement, could a Captain make to justify his team’s despicable performance…! I guess the Indian Captain and his players needed more time to rejuvenate after all those ‘tiring’ parties they attended after the IPL matches. The Indian players had been holidaying in West Indies when the other teams were sweating it out at the nets.
One would run out of adjectives describing the apathy of the selection board. I feel some of the members in the Board are biased in their selection. Ojha, who was the leading wicket taker in the IPL this season, was not a part of the squad. Batsmen who have been in amazing form, like Virat Kohli and Robin Uthappa have not found a place in the squad either for reasons best known to the Board. Players like Yuvraj Singh, who have consistently let the fans down, manage to find a place in the playing 11. The members of the Board must not allow personal considerations gain preponderance over the interests of the Nation.
Only a strict and timely act by the Board can becalm the millions of frenzied cricket fans. Let the world not think that a country like India lacks talent for cricket, because we all know, it does not.

Maybe Dhoni got stopped too many times in red light areas by his own admission :D

Dhoni giving lame excuses is definitely not excused. Parties are personal choice.. have we ever seen cricketers like Kumble, sachin, dravid or ganguly partying wildly. Cricket nowadays seems to be a step to gain celebrity status and Page 3 parties. Boys,time to start listening to elders

It wasn't the case that only Indian players attended all the post-match parties. Most of the other international players also attended the parties, still they were able to concentrate on the game when it matters most.

Dhoni was being sarcastic when he said that. He was just pissed off with his boys. He questioned Gambhir's running between wickets and the reply had parties-toll in it seems.

With the help of BCCI(IPL branch) our "failing" cricketers are looking forward to alternative career options. The vocational training of dancing & singing (Yuvraaj, Bhajji & others)can only be available in these parties.
Proper "lifetime" cricketers like "Sachin" & "Rahul" have not displayed such "antics".
I read in a article that Dhoni enjoys "a glass of milk" - I hope they serve them in these late-night IPL parties.

When u r a professional talk business like. The money u earn r ours! We also have a right to act professionally. Perform or Perish. Its as simple as that. Dump those jokers! Sachin, Sourav,Kumble still remind confidence,culture and dedication.

You have to see the bigger picture over here. The board has prohibited Dhoni from uttering anything against IPL. The media is grilling him for failure. What do you expect from him? Just put yourself in his shoes and you will realise that its indeed no bed of roses for Dhoni. I am not siding him but I am against the board for not allowing him to speak his mind. Everybody is angy that our players have played IPL,earned crores but have played miserably in T20 world cup. The format is too demanding and distractions are galore. Without a proper gap back to back tournaments will have its own impact and will take its toll on players. Its very demanding to expect our players to perform outstandingly in both the tournaments. One thing we should realise that for whom is the IPL conducted? Its for us and we have to choose between entertainment and pride. The IPL should be boycotted if held before the T20 world cup. You can have it after the world cup or atleast have a proper gap between the two. Lets face the truth and accept IPL has taken its toll and lets rectify it instead of staying on the shores of denial like a cat who drinks the milk with its eyes closed thinking that nobody is seeing it if it is not able to see anybody.

Dhoni when u say that indian players were tired, were only Indians playing in the world cup???? there were other countries players as well and they are performinng still better. Accept it that you guys only want to earn money and not play for country.

The only things which governs Indian players is money. That's the reason a player like Sachin tendulkar could not refuse to be part of IPL. Why can he play T20 for IPL but not for Indian team? The reason he opted out of T20 world cup in 2007 was that he thought the game was too demanding and doesn't suite his playing style. But when it came to IPL, he couldn't refuse. Who could when u r getting 6 crore for playing 14 matches?. Even the "GOD" Tendulkar couldn't resist the lure of such money. So if Sachin cant how can the other players. But they went ahead. Attending IPL parties to increase their marketability. Many of them were writing articles for newspapers(How did they get time to do that??).

India were the world champion in 2007 when tehre was no IPL. They are being eliminated in every big tournament in the first round after the IPL began. The question rises how has IPL affected Indian cricket?
Fatigue and less motivation for playing India could be one reason. But again Dhoni blames the IPL parties for the fiasco and not the IPL itself. Why would he when he have to play the same tournamnet again next year. No matter what he says the truth is IPL has done more harm to Indian cricket than good. Some local players may have increased their bank balance manifold but its affect on the national team has been dissisive. Their are more instances of infighting, more ego issues and less enthusiasam for playing for national team.

Asia Cup to be Dhonis last chance? Why BCCI cant take instant decision on sacking Dhoni. Playing among weak Asian teams, India may win again and then there will be all praises for Dhoni and his team and every thing will be forgotten about T20 world cup and they will become our heroes again. In the past also whenever India was thrashed by Australia or some other team, BCCI will arrange matches with Bangladesh or Zimbabwe and after beating these weak teams, everybody will forget defeat from Australia. So let BCCI have courage in dropping big names the way Australian board does

Parties or Priorities is the question. Our boys have been shown so much money through add endorsements and now IPL that they can not the be bothered to play for pride any more. If India has to be no.1 team again then IPL should be banned immediately. Scrape these boys of their $$$ and may be then they would focus on the game. Shame on you and your men Mr.Dhoni. Money finally got over the innocent Dhoni. :(

Dhoni is meticulously distracting longevity of IPL. He prefers not to blame IPL, which is nothing except a tamasha. Neither talent nor caliber is required to play T20. Just close your eyes, if the bat meets ball, its a six or you are bowled out. Even if IPL was to be organised, why immediately preceding the World Cup? Certainly, it drained out all the energy. Players are not blaming IPL only because it gives them money! Right?

hehehehehe.........YOU LOSERS MUST BE FEELING VERY JEALOUS OF US........

In India all we do is Love these players like God when they win or throw them under the bus when they loose, but we have never held the fans accountable. Believe it or not they are who they are because we are so emotionally involved in the game that we forget about the rest and worship these loosers. We have not won the World Cup for 27 long years and we still follow this team to death. In 1996 it was made clear that the matches were fixed and after that we have lost Bob Woolmer to match fixing and look what happened recently in the IPL, but we still think of cricket as a sport. I'm not saying stop enjoying cricket, but take for what it is and nothing more. Indians are among the most loyal fans of this game yet we get looted the most when you know there's potential of every match being fixed. Cricket is not a sport any more it is a business and owners of this business will only do what's good for the business not necessary the customer, in this case the fans. For sure some of you will have very strong views about my opinion, but fact is fact and if we fail admit it then we are at fault.

Cricketers of our country are looked upon as dieties. No wonder they begin to imagine themselves as bigger than life. They might play Bangladesh and crush them convincingly and soon our die hard fans will forget the T20 debacle. Our cricket fans have short memory you know. Too much glamor, money, fame and indisciplined cricketers I guess. Aussies have dominated all forms of the game for over a decade; in my books they will always be No.1, no matter what the rankings say. Aussies also party and have fun. Who can forget Shane Warnes and Symonds tantrums. But when they are on the field they give their best. That's the mark of a champion team

Dear All,

Dhoni has the right to speak about the parties.
He DID NOT attend a single party. So obviously there was no pressure from the Franchise Owners (at least CSK)!!.
We did not turn up for the World Cup.
Accept that fact and move on. Stop giving undue attnetion to our cricketers.

WE make them DEMI - GOD and they actualy beleive they are GODS. This is why Australian teams are so different. Pointing's performaance on the field counts and he does not have a brand Value.

WE HAVE LONG WAY TO IN LEARNING TO TREAT CRICKETERS LIKE CRICKETERS AND NOT LIKE GODS

Australia 3 3 0 0 2.733 6

Sri Lanka 3 2 1 0 -0.333 4

West Indies 3 1 2 0 -1.281 2

India 3 0 3 0 -1.117 0

Hope BCCI and Indian cricket players have this point table memorized by now. Indian fans and supporters certainly do.

After hitting blazing-fast half centuries and record sixer-laden stints in IPL clown games, these faggots thought it will a walk in the park, but guess didn't happen. It is like one who plays chess in local tea-shops and going to the world chess championship. He may be a local hero, but in order to achieve the standard, unwavered dedication and discipline alongwith inborn talent should be there. Others will be crushed in a matter of days. Indian team was so ill-prepared and seemed lost in the glamor world. They have no place in the world arena. Also arrogancy and belligerent behaviour is not acceptable from any sportsman, no matter how great he is.