The final nail in the coffin

This was a campaign that had too many stumbling blocks, both on the field and off it.

Upset by Media ?

Did the constant media scrutiny spoil the team? If there were one question that MSD was asked over and over again was sehwag's injury status.. MSD's cold one line replies were not received well either. A show of unity was followed by Viru's exit.. Very much unlike MSD it was..

Viru's "injury" ?

Did the injury to Viru make matters worse? Suddenly the fear factor that opposition attacks felt at the sight of the Delhi opener was gone. Rohit got some runs as a replacement, but was never one to intimidate bowling attacks like Sehwag used to. Rohit performed only against the weaker teams and failed to put up even a show when he played against others. Did the absence of a good opening pair and partnership cost us dearly ?

IPL fatigue ?

Blame IPL for the good and the bad.. Its so easy. Play well, IPL helped ! Dont play well- Were they simply too exhausted - mentally as well as physically ? Or did the other teams get a measure of Indian players through IPL ?

MSD went cold from "cool"?

Did the failure of M S Dhoni as batsman prove to be a key tipping point? Dhoni was a shadow of the once dominant batsman he used to be.  Somehow the spark that he provided that took India to the crown in 2007 went missing this time around.. IPL semis was his first stumbling block, and he hasnt recovered yet .. 

The world caught up?

And finally, has India's lustre of being the sharpest T20 unit in the world faded? The fielding was well below par through the tournament, even as other teams pulled of sparkling catches and made stunning run outs.

The bowlers weren't quite as menacing and were often helpless in late assaults.

The batting not quite as dominant as other teams with key men falling apart at crucial times.

The usual comments. Wonder where BS.Bedi is !!!!!!!!!!!! 

• Erapalli Prasanna: "In a crucial tie like this, Dhoni shouldn't have put England in after winning the toss, it was a mistake. I don't think our batting order was right. Sending Jadeja ahead of Yuvraj and Dhoni himself was a mistake. Even Harbhajan could have given us the required thrust. We had the potential but the failure to handle pressure was the reason for our loss."
  

• Syed Kirmani: "You have the talent and you are rated as favourites but this is what happens when you don't click. Sehwag's absence dented our prospects. In this format, the opening pair is required to give a good foundation for others to carry on but we didn't get that."
  

• Arun Lal: "Sending Jadeja up the order smacked of overconfidence and defensiveness."
  

• Madan Lal: "It is rather unfortunate: 154 was not a difficult target to chase. Dhoni gambled by putting England in first. Even I would have done that. Ours is a young and talented side but the intensity in performance that was expected from a team playing for India was not there."
  

• VB Chandrashekhar: "Dhoni's strategy to make England bat first was wrong and picking Jadeja in place of Ojha was yet another mistake. I also feel Harbhajan Singh did not give his best in the match. The decision to send Jadeja up the order ahead of Yuvraj was also baffling because he had not played in the tournament. I think we were also over-dependent on Yuvraj. My analysis is that we would have been eliminated much earlier had he not performed."