India lost both the games they've played in the tri-nation cup. For current world champions and Champions Trophy winners, who were on a roll just a few days back, this does come as a surprise.
This is no cause for concern; defeats remind you that however good you are, you can still be fallible, and also such setbacks give you a bit of a 'reality check', as Virat Kohli said.
India still remain a good team and the fact is that they have not played well, while the West Indies and Sri Lanka are not better teams but have played better than India so far.
I can't help but relate this India performance to the timing of this tournament and its stature. India seemed well spent after that terrific performance in England and in less than 48 hours they were in the West Indies to play in a one-day tournament that no one will remember after six months.
Yes, ideally you want a strong team to give its best in every game, but we are talking about humans not machines. If the team has lacked a bit of sting it is understandable. Yes, there is never a good time to fail but if there was, such tournaments are a good time to log in your poorer performances.
{{/usCountry}}Yes, ideally you want a strong team to give its best in every game, but we are talking about humans not machines. If the team has lacked a bit of sting it is understandable. Yes, there is never a good time to fail but if there was, such tournaments are a good time to log in your poorer performances.
{{/usCountry}}This should not however take your eye off some of the selection blunders that India made and may have had to pay the price for it. Dropping Bhuvneshwar was one such mistake. On current form, Bhuvneshwar and Ravindra Jadeja are the two best bowlers in the team.
India would be better placed if they don’t brand Bhuvi as just a new-ball bowler. What's more, if he is given the ball in the death more, he may yield better results than Umesh and Ishant do over a period of time.
The writer is a former India batsman