Venkatesh Prasad slams India's 'ordinary' performance following WI defeat

Following India's eight-wicket loss to West Indies in the final and series-deciding T20I on Sunday, former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to blast skipper Hardik Pandya and head coach Rahul Dravid for their "clueless" performance throughout the series.

India, which had lost the first two matches of the five-match T20 series, went on to win the next two matches, setting itself up for a historic comeback series win.

However, the Indian batting, excluding Suryakumar Yadav, failed to impress on the day and managed only 165 runs, which the 'Windies' chased down with two overs to spare, at the loss of just two wickets.

This was the first time that the Caribbean side had won a five-match T20I series against India.

Venkatesh Prasad who has been vocal about the Indian team's performance in recent years said that the team has been a "very ordinary" limited overs side for a while.

He said in a post, "They have been humbled by a West Indies side that failed to qualify for the T20 WC a few months back. We had also lost to Ban in the ODI series. Hope they introspect instead of making silly statements."

India has been a very very ordinary limited overs side for sometime now. They have been humbled by a West Indies side that failed to qualify for the T20 WC few months back. We had also lost to Ban in the ODI series. Hope they introspect instead of making silly statements #IndvWI

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) August 13, 2023

Meanwhile, India's head coach Rahul Dravid said the team needs to find depth in their batting to win games. 

"Finding depth in our batting has been an area we are trying to address. We are trying to do the best we possibly can but that's certainly an area we can look at, how we cannot weaken our bowling attack but ensure we have a certain amount of depth in batting," said Dravid on Sunday.

Answering a question from a user about the management of the team, Prasad said, "They (management) are responsible for the debacle and need to be accountable. Process and such words are misused now. MS (Dhoni) meant it, guys now just use the word. There is no consistency in selection, random stuff happening too much."

They are responsible for the debacle and need to be accountable. Process and such words are misused now. MS meant it, guys now just use the word. There is no consistency in selection, random stuff happening too much https://t.co/jJhUgsd5KA

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) August 13, 2023

Following the loss Indian skipper Hardik Pandya said, "Losing is good at times. On the positive side, we have done a lot of learning. The boys showed character. Credit to them. They kept coming and tried something new. It is part of the process."

With the Asia Cup and the prestigious ODI World Cup coming up this year, Prasad said that fire and hunger is missing from the team, brushing up the poor performances under the "garb of process." 

"India needs to improve their skillset. There is a hunger and intensity deficiency and often the captain looked clueless. Bowlers can’t bat, and batsmen can’t bowl. It’s important to not look for yes men and be blinded because someone is your favourite player but look at the larger good," he concluded.

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