Bhubaneswar, March 24 (IANS) Thousands of angry cricket fans burnt effigies of Team India members and their Australian coach Greg Chappell in several places across Orissa Saturday following the squad's miserable loss to Sri Lanka in a World Cup tie.

While fans burnt effigies of the cricketers in western Orissa's Sambalpur and Talcher town, youths at Bangiriposhi in the tribal-populated Mayurbhanj district hanged the effigies of the team members and their coach, said Oriya news portal Odisha.com.

The protests were reported from many other parts including Chhatrapur, Chilika and Balasore town.

In Chatrapur town, angry youths garlanded the photographs of the team members with shoes near a government bus stand. They asked passers-by to spit on the photographs, the news portal said.

At Chilika in the coastal district of Puri, around 15 youths shaved off their beard and moustache in protest, the report said quoting its correspondents and reports from local television channels.

"I was shocked," Bhubaneswar-based lawyer Ramesh Sahani, who watched the defeat to Sri Lanka, said. "It is time the players are changed. We need new faces."

"Our players perform well in insignificant matches. When we want better performances, they never do so."

According to Kishor Mania, eminent cricket coach, there were major reasons for the defeat.

Playing excessive one-day matches and lack of rest is one factor, Mania told IANS. "Besides, there is lack of discipline among our players."

Mania said it was not fair to blame coach Greg Chappell. "He has done his duty well. It is our players who did not perform."

"Our players are more interested in earning money from showing themselves in ads or in films than on the playground," he said.