Former pacer Venkatesh Prasad has emerged as a staunch critic of the Indian team and BCCI in recent times.

On Saturday (September 9), Prasad opined that the BCCI have ‘messed up’ in the months leading up to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

Taking to social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Prasad cited multiple issues where BCCI could have done a better job.

The schedule of the ODI World Cup was announced late and then multiple changes were made to the itinerary. Moreover, cricket fans were left frustrated as they were made to wait in queues after the World Cup tickets were put on pre-sale.

Venkatesh Prasad didn’t filter his words and he criticized the mismanagement of the Indian board in three separate posts.

“It takes one corrupt, arrogant guy to take away the hardwork of an organisation that is generally non-corrupt and get a stamp of corruption on the whole leadership , not just on a micro level but at a large level,” Prasad wrote while taking a dig at one specific BCCI official. However, he deleted this post later.

In another post, he wrote: “There is no debate and doubt on the fact that we have messed up the lead up to the World Cup. Unreasonable delay in schedule in the first place and if that wasn’t enough changing the schedule hampering 5 matches in the process, if that wasn’t enough a completely non-transparent and inefficient ticket system only encouraging black marketeers.”

“It is a proud moment to be hosting a World Cup and it should have been a great time for the fans but these difficulties for the fans doesn’t look unplanned . It’s time we wake up and not make this incompetence a norm just because “Yes Men” around don’t want to speak up. It is a matter of national prestige.”

“We have a good team and are strong contenders for the World Cup but we need genuine fans inside the stadium cheering for the team and their experience needs to be far smoother and easier than what it has been ,and for that the BCCI needs to do far better than they have done so far. It is a reflection of the country as a whole and we as a nation should not be let down at any cost,” Prasad further stated.

Notably, the BCCI on Wednesday (September 6) said that they will be releasing approximately 400,000 more tickets for the forthcoming World Cup. This announcement came after the fans’ outrage on social media.

The general sale of tickets for all World Cup matches will commence from 8:00 PM IST onwards on September 8, 2023.