One thing evident during India's disastrous showing in the ICC World Twenty20 was the fatigue factor.
The squad came into the tournament a tired lot after non-stop action in the Indian Premier League last month. The players hardly had proper practice sessions in the lead-up or during the tournament, and the results are testimony to that.
Defending champions India got past minnows Ireland and Bangladesh in their group matches, but when it came down to the business end of the tournament they failed to live up to expectations.
They were comprehensively outplayed by the West Indies and England, both times tactically, and crashed out in the Super Eights stage.
Coach Gary Kirsten said the preparation of the squad for the tournament was hampered by the IPL, which finished just a week ahead of the World Twenty20.
Asked if he would resort to pulling out some players from next year's IPL, he replied: "Maybe, that is something to think of in the future. Whether that is possible we don't know."
The South African further added that not getting enough time to prepare for the tournament proved a major hindrance.
"If we go back to the Australia series, we had 17 days preparation, and then we played unbelievable cricket for seven months. That was a great foundation for us in many respects to allow us to achieve what we did.
"Here we come into a tournament, the players have two days to go home, and then we come into the tournament without being able to connect with the players at all. A lot of international sides were missing players because they were at the IPL, but they were preparing a lot sooner than us. That could have been one factor," Kirsten said.
What is worrying is the coach's admission that his players' intensity level in this tournament was way below than what was witnessed in the IPL.
"One thing that didn't play well into our hands is that we had a bunch of cricketers who arrived here quite tired and that's not to make excuses; we were aware that we had a demanding schedule.
"We never really got ourselves to the level of intensity that you need to at the international game, with the standard of cricket obviously higher than what we would have experienced at the IPL," Kirsten said in Nottingham, on Monday.
"Fatigue was definitely a factor, as were many other things. I don't want to use that as an excuse, but it was a factor. We weren't an energetic team, like we were in New Zealand, where the levels of energy were really good. We didn't get up to the same level on this tour," he added.
Kirsten also clarified that not having practice sessions, or resorting to optional ones, during the tournament was to give his players a rest during matches.
"We were trying to work out whether we should increase the levels of training or ensure the guys have enough rest. We were a relatively tired team when we arrived here.
"We've been on the road since the end of January and hadn't really been at home much. We had to weigh that up; it was a tough one to call. We thought let's try and get as much rest as we can to see if we can get the guys pumped up for the important games."
Interestingly, Kirsten also made it clear that there is a huge gulf between the playing standards in the IPL and the World Twenty20.
"[IPL] That is a domestic competition, a club competition in many respects. While you have got many international players playing in the team, you've got first-class cricketers making up the rest.
"I sense that there's a reasonably big gap between what's happening at IPL level and what's happening internationally. It's only natural; when you're picking your best eleven out of each country the quality is going to go up substantially," he said.
The South African also defended Mahendra Singh Dhoni's lacklustre batting approach during the tournament, which probably hurt India a lot.
"MS [Dhoni] is probably one of the great finishers the game has ever seen in 50-over cricket. He came into international cricket and hit the ball hard and then he realized he could do another job where he could work the ball around and finish the games off with the ability to hit the boundaries as well.
"I guess he is trying to do that in the T20 cricket as well. He's continuing to learn in that process. I can only see his batting improving," Kirsten said.
