'Clueless Captain, Silly Statements, Blinded by Favourite Player': Venkatesh Prasad Blasts Indian Team After Series Defeat

India concluded their West Indies tour with a T20I series defeat, their first such bilateral defeat since 2021. The result has thus ended India’s unbeaten 12-series streak.

While India T20I captain Hardik Pandya isn’t worried about one off series defeat, Venkatesh Prasad says this calls for serious introspection as the team has looked ‘ordinary’ in limited-overs cricket for some time now.

India began their Windies tour with a 1-0 win in a two-Test series before winning a three-match ODI series 2-1.

India were a class apart from their opponent in the longer formats but in T20Is, West Indies presented a stern challenge, something that was expected considering how well they have historically performed in the shortest format.

“India has been a very very ordinary limited overs side for sometime now,” Prasad posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “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.”

Prasad was referring to Pandya’s post-match comments during which he talked about being focused on the ‘long process’ instead of losing a series ‘here and there’.

Prasad then pointed out how West Indies have not only failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup but also didn’t make it to the Super-12 stage at the T20 World Cup last year.

“Not just 50 overs, West Indies had failed to qualify for the T20 World cup last Oct- Nov as well. It pains to see India perform poorly and brush it under the carpet, under the garb of process. That hunger, fire is missing and we live in an illusion,” he wrote.

And then responding to a query from a user, Prasad said the team captain and management needs to be held accountable and called out the inconsistency in selection.

“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,” he posted.

In another post, Prasad claimed Indian captain has looked clueless at times and added that selection of players reeks of favoritism.

“India needs to improve their skillset. Their is a hunger & intensity deficiency & often the captain looked clueless. Bowler’s can’t bat, 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 posted.

India will next face Ireland in a three-match T20I series that starts later this week.