India lost to home side yet again as the Men in Blue slumped to a second consecutive loss to the West Indies on August 6, in the ongoing five-match T20 series. This has not gone down well with former pacer Venkatesh Prasad, as the 54-year-old took to social media site X to vent out his disappointment as India trails 2-0 in the series.
The former India pacer called out stand-in captain Hardik Pandya and his side and labelled the team 'very very ordinary'.
“Very very ordinary. No point in brushing it aside. After the 2007 T20 World Cup, IPL started and we haven’t won a T20 World Cup in 7 attempts since, making only 1 finals. The intensity and hunger to win needs to be far more . Yesterday after Yuzi took 2 wkts in the 16th…” Prasad wrote on X early Monday morning, August 7.
In Pics: WI vs IND: Home side takes 2-0 lead over India with narrow 2-wicket win
"And Yuzi got India back into the game in what was his third over and West Indies 8th down and he didn’t bowl again and No 9 and 10 for WI found the pacers easy to handle. Should be smarter at these moments then just doing textbook stuff," Prasad said as he ended his tweet.
Cause for concern
Prasad has been vocal in his criticism of the health of the Indian cricket team, with his latest tweet a continuation of what he posted last week. He tweeted on July 30 saying, "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.
"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."
Hardik Pandya's side are staring at yet another white-ball series defeat with West Indies leading the current series 2-0. The Men in Blue must win all 3 remaining matches to secure the series, but more importantly win back the trust of the concerned fans with the ODI World Cup looming large.
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