YET AGAIN the stage was set. A grand cricket finale. Yet again, the game was its best. Two talented cricket teams. Yet again, shone one of them. The marvelous ’men in blue’. And yet again, faded away the scintillating of them. The ’confused crew without clue’. The stage was the Asia Cup final and Srilanka and India were the teams. No prizes for guessing, who shone before the final and who faded away after it.

Do we notice the familiarity in the script of the story? Ask any cricket lover and you will get a nod. I feel really sorry to repeat this yet again but then, ’Team India’ also dances to the script again and again. The tournament, which saw the 300s scored and chased down almost every time the bat struck the ball, would not have been so amused to see the Srilankan first innings score of 273, much to the amusement of the Indians. For an in-form star-studded batting lineup with an extra batsman on a perfect batting wicket, it was almost a victory. Almost, had they not been dented by the tremendous Ajantha Mendis.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that the batsmen could not pick Mendis. Hard to fathom that none of the Indian batsmen, who are counted among the best in the world could not pick a bowler - with due respect to the new Lankan magician. So they have an excuse, India were shocked by something unknown. Fine, but what about the other 17 one-day international (ODI) finals, out of 21, which they have lost since 1999? They could only muster two victories and the other two were shared.

Of course, no one can forget two of the best victories in the Indian cricket history. One was the Natwest final at Lords with the epic performances of Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, and recently in Australia when they thrashed the world champions in their own backyard. But what about the daunting number of losses?

If we look back even before 1999, we will easily find similar Indian fiasco. Who can forget the 1996 World Cup semifinal at Kolkata. Oh! I forgot that the pitch cracked way more to the utter shock of the Indian batsmen. Holding on to the World Cup, one remembers with pain the dream run of the Indian team being shattered by Ricky Ponting’s army. Yet another shock. Every time some or the other thing shocks our brilliant team. Of course, we have to give full credit to the team for making to the finals. But if the team makes to the final, it ought to be one of the best teams in the tournament. And no one can deny the fact that it is. Some say it is on paper. Some see it on the field. But it is. Then what goes wrong? Is it that the shocks are very consistent or they are simply what they call them - chokers.

How many times have we seen the pale faces of Indian tailenders struggling to hold their feet surrounded by the hungry opponents under the glowing lights? This is the scene witnessed almost every time India makes to the finals. What makes the Indian batsmen, who have lost the count of number of balls they have hit in their life, stutter facing a similar looking ball just at the thought of being in a final? What makes them succumb to the pressure? And why not other teams? Is it something to do with the mentality of Indians? Do Indians lose the battle of nerves easily? Or is it that we are not brought up in such conditions? I would like to ask all the budding cricket players in the nation who opt for fielding first after winning the toss? Do we like to chase naturally?

We all like to blame. The moment Indian cricket team loses a match, especially a final, all the news channels are activated carving out thrillers with the cricketers being the target. Soon the cricketing idols turn into scapegoats and are blamed for concentrating more on endorsing products than playing cricket.

The idols were concentrating on cricket till they lost the final, and then they became mortals. I feel we will never gain anything by this blame-game. Its high time we start looking into the correct reasons and decide what makes a choker choke.