‘We have become used to celebrating mediocrity’ – Venkatesh Prasad slams Indian team for ‘underperformance’

Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad has slammed the Indian cricket team for its underwhelming performance in the white-ball formats. The 53-year-old pinpointed how the team lost bilateral contests against sides like Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia recently.

Taking to the micro-blogging site Twitter, Venkatesh termed India’s campaign during the last two editions of the T20 World Cups as “poor”. The Bangalore-born compared the Indian team to England and Australia. 

He referred to England’s newly adopted approach to playing an aggressive brand of cricket across formats and termed them as “an exciting team”. The former cricketer also recalled how dominant the Australian team of yesteryear used to be and compared the Indian team with both outfits.

The former pace spearhead mentioned that despite having the financial strength and the resources to go with it Indian cricket has “become used to celebrating mediocrity.”

Notably, Venkatesh also singled out India’s recent “underperformance” and said that their “attitude” and “approach” is the reason behind the same.

India haven’t tasted success at ICC events since the MS Dhoni-led side won the ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales in 2013. They experienced an unceremonious exit during the T20 World Cup 2021 after facing back-to-back losses against arch-rivals Pakistan and New Zealand.

Even during the T20 World Cup 2022, India had to remain content with a semi-final berth after they were humiliated by England at the Adelaide Oval in the second semifinal of the tournament.

Though it’s not clear what triggered such a response from Venkatesh, India’s six-wicket loss in the second ODI of the ongoing three-match series against the West Indies who haven’t even qualified for the upcoming ODI World Cup in India might be a reason.

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