IPL stars; T20 World Cup duds - 5 reasons behind India's lack of success on world stage

When South Africa hosted the first twenty20 World Cup in 2007 the hit and giggle format was still in the experimental stage and was seen more as a carnival than a sport. It was yet to catch the imagination of the Indian audience, which form the bulk of crickets viewership, as India had, until then, played a grand total of one twenty20 international.It was only after the unexpected success in the tournament of the young Indian team under new skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni that the popularity of twenty20 cricket soared in India and the IPL was conceptualized. Now players are making careers solely in the twenty20 arena and in many cases an IPL contract has replaced a spot in the playing XI of the national test team as the 'holy grail'.India has since become the most sought after twenty20 destination and, with a dedicated two months window for twenty20 cricket in the season, the Indian players play the newest format of the game more than anyone else.But strangely, the experience of playing in the IPL has not proved beneficiary at the world stage. In fact, since the inception of the IPL, India has participated in three T20 World Cups and on all three occasions has failed to make it to semi final stage.Here is a look at fivepossible reasons that have led to Indias failure at the world stage.

#1 Not enough international matches

Though Indian cricketers play a lot of T20 matches, they have played very few games as a team. The fact that amongst the top eight Test playing nations, India has played the least T20 internationals, hasn't allowed the team to gel as a unit and hence there isn't much cohesion.

Also, there might be a sense of uncertainty regarding the specific roles of certain players. While Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane bat at the top of the order for their respective teams in the IPL, they are most likely to be used as finishers in the Indian set up. While Rohit Sharma has had tremendous amount of success batting in the middle order for the Mumbai Indians, he is expected to open the innings for India.

Though an individual heroic at a crucial juncture can decide the outcome of a twenty20 game, it is still a team game where lack of clarity about the role of each member can prove detrimental.