A lot of Sri Lankans played in the IPL, but skipper Kumara Sangakkara reckoned they had less trouble gelling as a unit because “we are in a small country and have been playing together since the under-13s because all of us live in or around Colombo.”

However, the lack of time spent together was only part of the problem. The key question is: India has a lot of good T20 players, but did it have a good T20 team going into the tournament in England?

Dhoni & Co went into the 2007 World T20 having played just one T20 match. But following the T20 rush thereafter, Dhoni now has 70 games, vice-captain Yuvraj Singh 72, and most others have similar numbers under their belts. This experience is well above the international average: Kevin Pietersen has played 58 T20 games, and Ricky Ponting just 39.

However, this team full of experienced individuals has had very little experience as a team. Between the last World T20 and this one, India played just five matches. They lost three of these, two to New Zealand, one to Australia.

Players’ roles in their IPL teams were different from what they were expected to do in the national side. And there just wasn’t enough time to get it right.

Consider these:

•Sehwag’s injury forced Rohit Sharma to move up to the top of the order. He began well, but failed in the crunch.

•Dhoni’s and Raina’s batting roles were confused — they traded spots at one-drop in both tournaments.

... contd.