“Despite the money and power, we have become used to celebrating mediocrity” :Venkatesh Prasad lashes out at Indian Team for mediocrity performance in ODIs and T20Is.
Former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Indian cricket team’s performances in ODI and T20I formats over the past year. He raised concerns about the team’s approach, which he deemed questionable, especially in white-ball cricket.
India’s performance in white-ball tournaments has been underwhelming, as they have not reached the finals of any such tournament since the 2018 Asia Cup. The team faced disappointments in the semifinals of the 2019 World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup. In the 2021 Asia Cup, they were eliminated in the Super 4s stage, and in the T20 World Cup 2021, they failed to progress beyond the Super 12s.
After India’s recent defeat against the West Indies in the second ODI in Barbados, Venkatesh Prasad expressed his concerns on Twitter. He highlighted that despite the West Indies being considered one of the weaker ODI teams in 2023, having failed to qualify for the Cricket World Cup after losses to Scotland, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, and Sri Lanka, they still managed to secure a convincing six-wicket win against India at the Kensington Oval.
Venkatesh Prasad tweeted “Despite the money and power, we have become used to celebrating mediocrity and are far from how champion sides are. Every team plays to win and so does India but their approach and attitude is also a factor for underperformance over a period of time.”
Prasad further emphasized that India’s performance in ODI series against Bangladesh, South Africa, and Australia since the beginning of 2022 has been lackluster, resulting in series losses. He believes that India’s approach to the game does not match that of world champion teams like England and Australia.
“Test cricket aside, India has been very ordinary in the other two formats for quite sometime now. Lost odi series against ban, SA and Aus. Poor in the last two T20 World Cups. Neither are we an exciting team like England nor brutal like how the Aussies used to be.”