Venkatesh Prasad lambasts 'very very ordinary' Team India, questions Hardik Pandya's decision-making in 2nd T20I against West Indies

Former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad launched a scathing attack on Hardik Pandya-led Men in Blue after they lost the second successive T20I game against West Indies on August 6 (Sunday) at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.

SportsTak

• Mon • 07 Aug 2023

Former India fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad launched a scathing attack on Hardik Pandya-led Men in Blue after they lost the second successive T20I game against West Indies on August 6 (Sunday) at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. India ended up losing the game by two wickets after making a comeback into the game by picking up wickets at regular intervals. Akeal Hosein and Alzarri Joseph registered a 26-run partnership for the ninth wicket and rolled out Men in Maroon's road to victory.

Prasad deemed India's performance as "very very ordinary" and highlighted the team's lack of T20 World Cup title after winning the inaugural edition in 2007 despite the presence of Indian Premier League (IPL).

"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," Prasad said in a tweet.

Batting first, India could only manage to score 152/7 in 20 overs despite Tilak Varma scoring 51 runs off 41 balls with the help of five fours and one six. Skipper Hardik played a cameo of 24 runs off 18 balls with the help of two sixes that helped India post a defendable score on the board. As it turned out, even 152 runs were not enough for the Men in Blue.

Veteran leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal brought India back into the contest by picking two big wickets in the 16th over. Yet, Hardik's decision to bowl Chahal any further in the game shocked several onlookers.

Prasad also criticised the Indian skipper's decision-making in the 2nd T20I and batted for players to become smarter in moments that can make or break the contest.

"Yesterday after Yuzi took 2 wkts in the 16th 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," the ex-India pacer added.