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Lame excuses for India’s T20 debacle

The editorial, “Exit from World Cup: IPL fatigue and poor tactics did us in” (May 14) was apt and timely. Dhoni’s contention that “late night parties, the extensive travel, fatigue and, above all, the rising ball” were the major reasons for non-performance by Team India are just lame excuses. The real factor is that our batsmen did not do their duty honestly. They meekly handed over the game to their opponents in the Super 8 series. They lacked confidence and went to the pitches with a casual mindset.

How the factor of fatigue did not affect other international players, is a matter worth pondering over.

Even the BCCI should be held responsible for the dismal Indian performance to some extent. They could have requested the ICC for giving sufficient time gap between the IPL3 series and the T20 World Cup. Even the selection of some players is to be questioned. Overall, the Indian players should be blamed for their over-indulgence in non-cricket activities like late, night parties and shooting for TV commercials.

RK KAPOOR, Chandigarh

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Indian team is now out of the T20 World Cup in super eight matches after third defeat due to poor performance of key players. It clearly shows IPL damaged the real cricket as our players forgot that game is more important than night parties.

KAMALJIT MALWA, Via Internet

Birthplace pangs

The column Ground Zero: “Return of the puttar”(May 2) by The Tribune Editor-in-Chief Raj Chengappa followed by Satwant Singh’s letter (May 8) has stirred the emotions of people like me who had forgotten about their place of birth.

I was born at a place which is in Pakistan. Until now it never came to my mind to visit my birthplace. But now I have a strong desire to see the place where I was born and spent first six years of my life.

B S CHEEMA, SAS Nagar

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I was born in Jamshedpur, and when I was one year old, my father got a job in Chennai and our family shifted there. I was educated in Chennai, and we enjoyed the breakfast of idlis and dosas. In fact, I speak Tamil more fluently than Punjabi.

We give our heart and soul to the place where we spend our formative years. Our lifestyle, traditions and customs also change according to the place we live in. Whether we live in north or south India, we all are proud to be Indians.

PARAMJITH KAUR, Gurdaspur

Policy on natural resources  In view of the Supreme Court ruling on the gas-price row between the Ambani brothers, it has become imperative for the government to formulate a national policy on the exploitation of natural resources without losing more time (editorial, “The gas price row: SC upholds national interest over private trust”, May 10). Now that the confusion and ambiguity regarding the status of natural resources have been cleared by the apex court, the policy henceforth shouldn’t be one to hand over national assets to private players — foreign as well as domestic. Instead, they should be involved in “exploration, extraction and exploitation” of natural resources on a design-build-finance-operate-and-transfer basis. This is the only way to ensure that the natural resources remain our national assets and do not become private property. LAJPAT RAI GARG, Panchkula