One cannot say it with certainty if the current Team India management wants to send a message across to the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI after failing to make the semi-finals of the ongoing T20 World Cup, but a day after outgoing bowling coach Bharat Arun raised the issue of the players not getting a break, at least a short one, after the completion of the second leg of the IPL and before the start of the ICC event, Ravi Shastri, in his last appearance as head coach of the team, also spoke on similar lines.

“These guys are physically and mentally drained... Six months in a bubble and we would have ideally liked a bigger gap between the IPL and the World Cup,” Shastri said before the start to India- Namibia match in Dubai on Monday.

“It’s when the big games come and when the pressure hits you, you are not that switched on as you should be.”

Interestingly, even senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah, after the defeat to New Zealand, had highlighted the difficulties of bubble life and how “being on the road” for six months took a toll on the players.

Shastri also said that the team missed out on a X-factor in this tournament. “It’s not an excuse.

“We take defeat because we are not scared of losing. Because in trying to win, you will lose a game. Here we didn’t try to win, because that X-factor was missing,” he stated.

Talking about his successor, Rahul Dravid, Shastri said the former India captain “will only raise the bar” from hereon. “In Rahul Dravid, India have got a guy who has inherited a great team, and I think with his stature and experience, he can only raise the bar in time to come.

“There are still players here who will play for another three to four years, which is very important. It is not a team in transition and that’ll make the biggest difference. Virat (Kohli) is still there and has done a fantastic job as the leader of the side, being one of the biggest and best ambassadors of Test cricket over the last five years.

“A lot of credit goes to him in the way he has thought about how he wants the team to play the game and how the team has rallied around him,” Shastri emphasised.

Reflecting on his journey as India head coach over the last four years, Shastri said: “It has been fantastic.

“When I took this job, I said in my mind, ‘I want to make a difference’, and I think I have. Sometimes in life, it’s not all about what you accomplish. It’s what you overcome.

“And what these guys have overcome over the last five years, the way they have travelled across the globe and performed in every part of the globe in all formats of the game will make this as one of the great teams in the history of the game. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind.

“It’s unfortunate that we are out of this tournament, but that takes nothing away from a great side.”