'Absence of Sehwag hurt India'

While Kirsten had blamed an overdose of cricket and Indian Premier League as the cause for the World Cup fiasco, India skipper Dhoni continued to differ with his coach, saying the team’s early exit has nothing to do with ‘fatigue factor’. Ganguly bluntly disagreed with Kirsten on the cause of the debacle and said for a young team like India, fatigue can’t be an excuse. “I don’t agree with this because they are young boys. They are just 22, 23 years old and have just started their career. I know they have played a lot of cricket but not all of them.

“Probably people like Dhoni, Yuvraj (Singh), Harbhajan (Singh) and Zaheer (Khan) have because they are part of consistent Test team and has done a lot of traveling on the road,” he said. “This is the age to play, they are 25, 26. Even if you are fatigued, you have to find ways out to get yourself up and going,” he added.

Ganguly felt Sehwag’s absence made a major difference in realising the fortune of the team in the biennial event.

“Sehwag makes a major difference in the team. Rohit (Sharma) was opening the batting for the first time but he didn’t do well in the last three matches.