Batting failure, not fatigue behind England debacle: Srikkanth

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Under attack for choosing unfit players for the England Test series, selection panel chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth on Sunday said that batting failure and not fatigue due to excessive cricket was the main reason behind the debacle.

Srikkanth refused to buy the line that Indian cricketers play excessive cricket and that has led to fatigue and niggles to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men during the England Test series which they are now trailing 0-3 with one match to go.

"If you see the FTP, all countries are playing cricket 365 days a year whether England or Australia. It is not the Indians only. The fact is that cricket is being played the whole year in whatever format -- Test, ODI or Twenty20. So I don't think that it is the fatigue factor for the performance in England," Srikkanth said.

"We have to accept that England were the better side and they won the series. Batting did not click for us. In the Indian side, if batting clicks everything clicks. We also did not do well in bowling and fielding. England bowling attack is ideally suited for the conditions. Their three pacers were able to extract the maximum from the pitches which suited them more than our players," he told PTI.

Asked if the selectors knew strike bowler Zaheer Khan's injury before being picked for the England tour, Srikkanth said, "I don't think that we should go deep into the injury issues. If Zaheer is unfit then he is unfit. It's not the time to point out who was injured and who was not though there is no excuse for the series loss."

The former captain refused to put the blame on the Cricket Board, the selectors and also the players for the humiliation in England.

"Let us not indulge in the blame game -- on the players or the administrators or the BCCI. Nobody is to be blamed and it's not the time for that. It is just that we are going through a bad phase," he said.