After the Jay Shah-headed Asian Cricket Council (ACC) decided that there will be a reserve day added only for the Super 4 clash between India and Pakistan on September 10, the decision has received criticism on social media. The fact that there is just one match will has got this special provision has not gone down well with a group of fans. Among them is former Indian cricketer Venkatesh Prasad. Not mincing his words at all on social media website X (formerly Twitter), Prasad slammed the move and said that it shows 'absolute shamelessness' of the organisers.
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Prasad hoped that it rains harder on the reserve day to ensure that 'malicious plans' don't succeed. "If true this is absolute shamelessness this. The organisers have made a mockery and it is unethical to have a tournament with rules being different for the other two teams. In the name of justice, will only be fair if it is abandoned the first day, may it rain harder on the second day and these malicious plans not succeed."
The veteran of 194 internationals did not stop there. When Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) issued statement that they had no problem with the decision, informing that it was taken only after consulting all four teams in the Super 4s, Prasad became even more furious. He asked the two cricket board about the alleged pressure on them to make this statement.
With India and Pakistan getting advantage of a reserve day, it was felt that SLC and BCB would raise an issue as it makes it difficult for their teams to qualify for the final. However, SLC and BCB both posted on X that they had no objection.
Prasad reposted SLC's statement on X and wrote, "What was the pressure to agree on this unreasonable demand, when you aren’t getting a reserve day for your own matches ? Why so much generosity to ensure India vs Pakistan isn’t washed out even if it costs your own team a chance to qualify. Can you please explain truly the intent and reason to do so?" He did the same by reposting the statement by BCB.
Here's how Venkatesh Prasad vented out his anger of reserve day added exclusively for India vs Pakistan clash:
What was the pressure to agree on this unreasonable demand, when you aren't getting a reserve day for your own matches ? Why so much generosity to ensure India vs Pakistan isn't washed out even if it costs your own team a chance to qualify. Can you please explain truly the_ https://t.co/gPE6H3Fjfd
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) September 8, 2023
What was the pressure to agree to this unreasonable demand ? https://t.co/e65JZ6eNcB
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) September 8, 2023
If true this is absolute shamelessness this. The organisers have made a mockery and it is unethical to have a tournament with rules being different for the other two teams.
In the name of justice, will only be fair if it is abandoned the first day, may it rain harder on the_ https://t.co/GPQGmdo1Zx— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) September 8, 2023
Prasad had earlier criticised the ticketing system in place for fans to book the tickets for the ODI World Cup 2023. On Friday, he directly slammed BCCI, again on Friday, asking for more transparency in sale of tickets after seeing that fans could still not get ticket after waiting in queue for a long time. "This doesn’t look good. Either the ticket partners are incompetent to handle the ticket and traffic or this is another eyewash in the name of releasing tickets. Hope there is a proper audit and identification of how the tickets are sold and to whom and what platform. Just cannot take the biggest stakeholders, the fans for a ride with false assurances," said Prasad.
