‘India needs to take tough calls like England’ – Venkatesh Prasad’s BOLD statement on the team’s decade old approach

Former Team India pacer Venkatesh Prasad expressed his frustration over Team India’s long-standing failures in limited-overs cricket following their humiliating ODI series loss against Bangladesh. 

Showcasing England’s turn-around after their ODI WC 2015 debacle as an example, Prasad urged the Men in Blue to learn a thing or two from them. 

“India is innovating in so many fields across the world. But when it comes to playing limited-overs cricket, our approach is a decade old. England after the 2015 WC first round exit took tough calls and turned around to become such an exciting team. India needs to take tough calls.” the tweet from Venkatesh Prasad read. 

India is innovating in so many fields across the world. But whn it comes to playing Limited overs cricket, our approach is a decade old. England after the 2015 WC first round exit took tough calls and turned around to become such an exciting team, India need to take tough calls..

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) December 7, 2022

For the unversed, England’s ODI World Cup 2015 debacle was followed by a complete overhaul under now-retired Eoin Morgan as senior players like Cook, James Anderson and Stuart Broad were axed forever and fresh blood replaced them. The fearless approach adopted saw them win the 2019 ODI WC and more recently, 2022 T20 WC. 

India failing when it matters, feels Venkatesh Prasad

One of the frontrunners to be the next Team India chief selector, Venkatesh Prasad has been merciless in pointing out the issues plaguing the Men in Blue. 

The star-studded side has not won a single ODI tournament of notice since their 2013 Champions Trophy triumph. Ironically, there are also no T20 WCs to show although the IPL establishment back in 2008 to serve that exact purpose. 

And change approach drastically. We haven’t won a T20 WC since the IPL started & last 5 years have been poor in ODI’s apart from winning inconsequential bilateral. Haven’t learned from our mistakes for too long and far from being an exciting team in limited overs cricket. CHANGE

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) December 7, 2022

It looked like the team was done with their conservative approach after Rohit and co. adopted an aggressive approach before the 2022 T20 WC. However, the side turned meek as the tournament started and both KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma batted at a poor strike-rate.

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The landscape of limited-overs cricket has changed leaps and bounds. The Black Caps have moved past Martin Guptill and are offering chances to destructive young opener Finn Allen in LOIs, while Steve Smith is no more a part of Australia’s T20 international team. 

Like Venkatesh Prasad has implied in his recent tweets, India also has to shake up their structure and make some tough calls to have better fortunes in upcoming limited-overs tournaments.