Dhoni is BCCI's Resident Sex Bomb. "Pawar, Stop Hooting!"

Party and travel can be accounted for India’s exit from T20, not the Indian Premier League or too much cricket, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said.

But in the collective soul searching that India must do after the humiliating exit in West Indies, the Captain did say, “Players need to be smart because the IPL is not just about cricket, there are other things going around, you have to travel a lot…so you have to respect your body and at the same time take care of your body, which is important…if you don’t do that then IPL is quite draining…if you are playing late night games, if you go the parties and come back late and travel the next day it takes a toll on your body…”

Therefore the 45 days IPL can’t be held responsible for what led to the debacle in the World T20. If players would have given respect to their bodies then the IPL would not have drained them. As far as the player fitness and freshness is concerned, most players were fit and fresh.

T20 World Cup and IPL should be treated as poles apart. Last time also there was this same question, that has one tournament over affected the other? And without a second thought the answer was yes (though was not true). Next time there is the 2011 World Cup first and then the IPL and there is no T20 World Cup after that so at least next year there won’t be any such question.

In the match against Sri Lanka India scored well at the initial stage but lost the match finally. “I think execution of plans from their bowlers was very good, even with set batsmen we couldn’t score freely. Overall, batting is our strength and we should have done better. We didn’t perform to our potential. The last 4-5 overs that they bowled really restricted us. We need to improve in quite a few areas,” Dhoni said after the match.

~ Authored by Neha Vashist