BBC Online :
India coach Ravi Shastri said his players are “physically and mentally drained” as the pre-tournament favourites ended their disappointing T20 World Cup campaign with a nine-wicket consolation win over Namibia.
India chased 133 with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul both making half-centuries.
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin took 3-16 and 3-20 in Namibia’s 132-8.
India were unable to reach the semis after defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two games.
The tournament rounded off a jam-packed 11 months for India that has seen a historic Test victory in Australia, eight Tests against England, the World Test Championship final against New Zealand and white-ball series against England and Sri Lanka.
Their players have spent almost six months in bubbles after arriving in England in early June before the Indian Premier League (IPL) was completed in the United Arab Emirates between 19 September and 15 October. Their first game World Cup game was then on 24 October.
Shastri, who will now be replaced by Rahul Dravid after five years in the job, said: “The players need rest now.
“I am mentally drained, but I expect that at my age, but these guys are physically and mentally drained.
“They have spent six months in the bubble and we would have ideally liked a bigger gap between the IPL and the World Cup.
“It is when the big games come and the pressure hits you, you are not as switched on as you should be.
“It is not an excuse because we take defeat – we’re not scared of losing. In trying to win you will lose games, but here we didn’t try to win because the x-factor was missing.”
