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Gros Islet: India have been eliminated from the Twenty20 World Cup after being beaten by Sri Lanka on Wednesday (May 12) morning at St Lucia. However, what is surprising is that skipper MS Dhoni has blamed the Indian Premier League (IPL) parties and player fatigue for India's disappointing loss.
Addressing a press conference after the match Dhoni blamed IPL parties for player burnout and said, "IPL parties hurt India. It is a distraction for players. Late night games and parties can wear out players, Players should know how to balance between the two. Thankfully next year World Cup is before IPL."
Mahendra Singh Dhoni also said his side failed to play to its potential.
India needed to win by at least 20 runs against Sri Lanka but lost the Super Eights match by five wickets to crash out of the elite ICC event. India looked set for big score as they were 90 for one in 10 overs after electing to bat and could score just 163/5 and ended up losing all second round matches.
"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.
Sri Lanka enhanced their chances of making the semifinals with this win and captain Kumar Sangakkara had nothing but praise for his bowlers.
"At the end, we were chasing at least 144. Even I thought India would make a very big score, but the guys came back really well at the back end to cut off the runs and to pick up wickets as well," he said.
"Dilshan really got the momentum back after the early wickets, and we have always talked about how good our young players are, and they showed that today. Whatever happens after this, we can rest assured we have done the best we can."
Angelo Mathews, adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his crucial 46-run knock said, "I had to give a good performance with the bat, I'm glad I did it at the right time."
