That factor, along with the lack of preparation time, made it a bigger problem for India than the IPL’s international players because a) fewer of them played as many matches as the Indians because of the four-foreigner rule and, b) their boards took steps to minimise the conflict of interest.

“A lot of international teams had players in the IPL, but

they had a lot more time to prepare than us,” Kirsten said, a fact backed by South Africa coach Mickey Arthur, most of whose squad was part of the IPL as well.

South Africa looked one of the best outfits in the tournament even though they lost to Pakistan in the semi-final on Thursday. “After the IPL, we made it a point to get together for a camp,” Arthur said. “We went away to the bush and had serious discussions on how we wanted to play as a team.”

Even during the IPL, Arthur said, the team’s support staff was constantly in touch with the players and their franchises. “That’s something we did particularly well. It’s important that you’re in contact with the players at all times. You need to know if guys are picking up niggles. We had a huge tournament coming up and we needed to know what buttons to push to get the best out of our players.”

Pakistan, who will get their second shot at World T20 glory on Sunday, benefited from a pre-tournament camp as well. The team hardly played any cricket in the build-up to the tournament, but with time on their hands, said coach Intikhab Alam, they had a week-long camp and some practice games at Bhurban, a hill station in Punjab. “We got a lot of time to discuss the game and work on our strategies. We had two teams there, Pakistan and Pakistan A.”

... contd.