India will bounce back: Srikkanth

London:

India's failure to defend their World Twenty20 title could not shake Krishnamachari Srikkanth's belief in the team's ability and the chief selector insists Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men would put behind the debacle and bounce back.

A day after India crashed out of the title contention following their heart-breaking three-run defeat against England, Srikkanth said the team needed to learn from mistakes.

"Winning and losing are parts of cricket. I myself have been part of a team that won the World Cup and immediately lost badly and then came back to winning ways. Similarly, I'm sure this team too will bounce back. I'm confident of that, we just need to re-work and correct ourselves," Srikkanth told a TV channel.

Srikkanth felt Indian batsmen could not negotiate the short-pitch stuff dished out by the English pacers and identified it as a grey area.

"I think we need to practise it a lot," he said.

The former opener admitted Virender Sehwag's absence --the right-hander was ruled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury -- was felt by the side.

"See, guy like Sehwag, he is such a devastating batsman. He can hit any bowler in any part of the world and I think it's not just India but the entire world missed him.

"Don't forget opening is such important. Every team need a good start and Sehwag and (Gautam) Gambhir form a fantastic pair. The best thing about them is they keep rotating the strike and never get stuck," Srikkanth explained.

He also took the opportunity to defend Dhoni's poor form and said every batsman goes through such lean patch.

"Every player goes through bad and good times. But I'm sure Dhoni knows how to bounce back. It's just a question of time.

"Twenty20 is very unpredictable, where everything is possible. In the IPL, did anyone expect an underdog like Deccan Chargers winning or Royal Challengers Bangalore reaching the final?" he asked.

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