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regular-article-logo Thursday, 16 May 2024

Venkatesh Prasad takes a dig at Board of Control for Cricket in India

Former India pacer highlights 'incompetence' surrounding distribution of tickets for World Cup and also allocation of a reserve day only for India-Pakistan match in the ongoing Asia Cup

Our Special Correspondent Calcutta Published 10.09.23, 08:51 AM
Venkatesh Prasad, in a picture shared on Instagram.

Venkatesh Prasad, in a picture shared on Instagram. Sourced by the Telegraph

Former India pa­cer Venkatesh Prasad has launched an attack on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on social media platform X.

Without taking any names, he has highlighted the “incompetence” surrounding the distribution of tickets for the World Cup and also the allocation of a reserve day only for the India-Pakistan match in the ongoing Asia Cup.

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“What was the pressure to agree on this unreasonable demand...? Why so much generosity to ensure India vs Pakistan isn’t washed out even if it costs your own team a chance to qualify,” Prasad questioned after Sri Lanka Cricket announced that the ACC decision was a unanimous one.

Contacted by The Telegraph, Prasad didn’t wish to make any further comments. “It’s there on social media for everyone to see. I don’t want to give interviews,” the former pacer said.

Prasad then turned his attention to the World Cup.

“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... 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,” Prasad said.

He also alleged corruption. “It takes one corrupt, arrogant guy to take away the hard work 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.”

He later deleted this tweet.

“Since i was also speaking about the inefficiency of the BCCI around tickets in othsr tweets, it led to confusion and looked out of context. Hence deleted...” Prasad said later.

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