Former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad was baffled by the decision of the Indian skipper Hardik Pandya to under bowl their ace spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal in the 2nd T20I against West Indies on Sunday and questioned the performance of India in T20 World Cup post the start of Indian Premier League.
Team India lost the second consecutive game against the Men in Maroon after a poor batting performance in 1st innings at Guyana as none of the batters other than Tilak Varma. The young Indian team started things off well to defend the total in bowling before Nicholas Pooran took on the bowlers to ease the chase down the 19th over.
India made a comeback into the game during the 16th over where Yuzvendra Chahal changed the fortunes for the team picking up 2 wickets in the same over but was not given the chance to bowl, as Hardik Pandya trusted with seamers in the death overs, as they failed miserably to defend the total against Windies tail-enders.
Taking his Twitter account, Venkatesh Prasad slammed the Indian team for their performances in the T20 World Cup after winning the championship in 2007 but failing to win a single world cup in the next seven attempts despite hosting the biggest T20 leagues in World and was baffled by the tactics of not bowling Yuzvendra Chahal after picking up 2 wickets in the 16th overs
“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 final. The intensity and hunger to win needs to be far more . 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.
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) August 7, 2023
“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 than just doing textbook stuff,” Venkatesh Prasad tweeted.
West Indies bowled exceedingly well in Guyana to pick up crucial wickets for the team in the power plays and middle overs to restrict them to 152-7 at the end of the 20 overs and this win will be a massive boost for the team as they will look to build the team for the T20 World Cup next year in home soil.
Meanwhile, the Indian team is under the pump in recent times, as they could make an impact against the lesser-ranked West Indies which has invited a wide range of criticism and the Men in Blue would look to turn things around in the forthcoming next three games.