Blame Game begins....

"We are sorry. We are more disappointed (than the fans) and we respect the emotions of our fans and the country. We gave our best and we say that with an open heart, we have nothing to hide. We apologize to the fans for whatever happened. We are more disappointed than the fans themselves”, said the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the team's exit at the Super-8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2009 losing by a mere 3 runs to England (and that too with 5 wickets in hand).

Now, is it the same Dhoni who bought the T20 World Cup two years ago? If yes, then where's the confidence? And where is that flambouyant captaincy? Why is MSD acting so mean? Any answers?

Well, to me, India were never the favourite this time. But, as it is my home team, I always had some distant hope that my team India gets the cup. But after all, reality is reality, and you have to face it sooner or later. This exit, in my opinion, should act as a wake up call for the captain Dhoni, the players, and of course for the BCCI.

What the BCCI clearly needs to understand is that after all, the players are also human beings, and they too need some rest. Continuously playing can lead to a poor performance. And that is what happened with team India.

And Dhoni's captaincy is also under scanner. There were a few decisions that went totally wrong. In the match against England, sending Ravindra Jadeja instead of Yuvraj Singh, at a time when India was at a crucial stage, went haywire. Not only this, saving Yusuf Pathan for the end proved disastrous as the run rate at when he came in to bat was nearly unachievable. Pragyan Ojha, the bowler in form, was rested in this do-or-die match. Can Dhoni explain this?

And not to mention the Sehwag episode. Whether it was a spat between Dhoni and Sehwag or whether it was a matter of hiding Sehwag's injury or something else, this issue had certainly affected the morale of the team as a whole.

Media, I just don't understand how they work. When the team wins a match, they portray them as the national heroes. And when they lose one, they start performing the post-mortem of the loss and tag the same players as traitors (they almost do that !!)

Its not that I am confused on who to be blamed. Its a fault of the captain and players (for poor performance) and BCCI is equally responsible (for not letting the players rest before a crucial tournament).

Its time for the ‘why’s, ‘if’s and ‘but’s to be answered. Explanations will be demanded and answered, crucial decisions may be taken and heads may roll. The hero of 2007 has turned villain in 2009. Yes, folks. The ‘blame-game' has begun.