There were a lot of people who called the Indian cricket team chokers before the Asia Cup final this past weekend. After seeing them struggle the way they did, I will throw my name into the pool too. They did choke. The bowling and fielding was good, and they restricted Sri Lanka well to 228 on a pitch that should have produced at least 240-260.

But when it came to batting, there was not a single worthwhile partnership from the top 7 batsmen. There was Tendulkar, batting alone. No one stayed long enough to create a meaningful partnership. And I think the Indian team was unnecessarily over-defensive. There was no need to be. Yes, the pitch was going to turn a lot and yes, they had some slow bowlers who could exploit the conditions. But instead of ‘keep wickets at any cost’, the idea should have been ‘try to not lose more than 2 wickets, but score at least 90 runs in the first 15 overs’. Imagine, if India were able to get to 90-2 at the 15 over mark, it would mean a required run rate of less than 4 in the 35 over stretch. And that is truly gettable, even if the spinners are in full flow.

But the overly defensive mindset caused not only wickets to fall, but also pressure to increase. The wicket of Sehwag was due to the fact that he was more concerned about keeping his wicket intact, than to score runs. For no real reason, Zoysa was pumped up and bowled brilliantly after getting Ganguly who got out to a tentative shot.

Laxman looked the most at ease despite the pitch, but I think he was not at his fittest, but that is no excuse. Dravid got out to another good reflex catch (Gangs got out to a brilliant catch too), but even he was too defensive.

Yuvraj was unbelievably clueless. I don’t know what’s up with this guy. He is so comfortable one day, and so mentally out of it the other. In the finals, he was completely beaten by Chandana of all people and got out to frustration.

Kaif I think is lost at #7. Most of the times, if the top order bats well, he comes in during the slog overs and has no excuse if he gets out. As a result he has no real match practice in staying at the crease. In chases like the one over the weekend, where he had to not only keep his wicket, but also up the scoring rate, he was a complete misfit, and got out trying to manufacture something out of nothing.

And that brings me to the Tendulkar innings. I was happy that he scored. But once again, I was unhappy that India did not win when he scored. It has happened a lot of times. There is no one to build a partnership with. And at the end, he gets out trying to go over the top or whatever.

I don’t particularly like Rameez Raja’s comments, but I think I agree with one point he made after the match, which is that the Indian team and Sachin himself needs to revisit his new role. There is no point in sticking around for the sake of sticking around. The team has enough firepower later down the order that can take care of a mini collapse at the top. Instead of hanging around for a long time, he should think of his innings as a boost at the top. Go back to the old self and start blasting the ball away. Score 40 in 20 and at least get India off to a flyer. With Sehwag doing the same from the opposite end, the opposition may have to change their plans quickly in the innings. But imagine if Sachin plays like he used to, and scores at will, and without undue risks - India could be 100 with the loss of Sehwag in the first 15 overs. And for the next 35, even at 5 runs per over, they can make 275. Of course, with the correct level of acceleration, 300 would be easy on most tracks.

Overall, I am not too frustrated with the result. It was definitely a case of Sri Lanka completely dominating the Indians. There was not much of throwing away wickets, missed catches, bad bowling or anything. Can’t fault the Indians much in terms of what they did in general. If they can fix their mental approach, they would be well off.

On to Holland now.