Former New Zealand cricketer-turned-commentator Simon Doull is quite outspoken in nature. He never shies away from speaking his mind and his comments often spark an outrage.

With the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 around the corner, Doull recently weighed in on host India’s chances in the quadrennial event.

Sharing his two cents, the ex-Kiwi pacer didn’t filter his words as he said Indian batters play “stats-driven cricket” and hesitate to take risks.

“Fearless cricket is their issue. They don’t play fearless cricket enough. They play statistics driven cricket and they are too worried about their stats too often. And to me that is the one area I am concerned about their batting side,” Doull said on Sky Sports.

“They have got all the talent and some of the best players if not the best players in the world. But it is about playing fearless cricket at the right time of the tournament and I think that is what had really let them down in the last few World Cups,” he added.

However, his statement hasn’t gone down well with former India pacer Sreesanth, who launched a scathing attack on the New Zealand cricket team.

Sreesanth claimed that the Kiwis got lucky during the 2019 World Cup semi-final with the direct-hit run-out of MS Dhoni and India would beat them in the 2023 edition.

“New Zealand are coming to India. They will get to know if India play attacking cricket or not. We will thrash them. They got lucky in 2019 with MS Dhoni getting run out due to a direct hit.

“What did you do after playing the final? They made a team like England win the World Cup, who hadn’t won a 50-over World Cup until then. New Zealand are never going to win. Yes, they might win in the future, but it will be embarrassing for them this time. If you get a chance to address the media, please think before you speak. If you are ready to give, you should be able to take it also,” Sreesanth said while speaking to Sportskeeda.

“I just want to tell Simon Doull that Indians are going to have a blast against New Zealand. New Zealand are going to learn a lot against India. Yes, there have been certain matches where they have done well against us, especially in ICC events. But those times have gone now. If any of these cricketers get to know what you said, and if Virat is made aware of it, it will be a lot of fun to watch that match,” he added.

India and New Zealand will square off in the upcoming ODI World Cup in Dharamsala on October 22.