India Legend Venkatesh Prasad refuses to brand India as chokers

On November 19th 2023 the Indian team witnessed another heartbreaking loss after losing the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup final. The Indians were set to make it a third World Cup title after winning 10 games in a row and being the best team in the tournament. With this India once again failed to win a major International tournament making it almost a decade since the last International trophy was the 2013 Champions Trophy. After the loss, there were many experts who were close to labelling this team as chokers after failing to win another major trophy.

There will be a lot of talk about this issue since people will only talk about India losing the finals and not about the amazing winning streak which they achieved during the tournament. In spite of the World Cup loss, India is still the number-ranked side in all the formats and has won some big series this season as well. There have also been a lot of talented players that are in the ranks as well. Maybe there might not be any big trophies in the last 10 years, but the number of teams that India have beaten still proves why they are one of the best teams in the world.

Venkatesh Prasad on the choker tag

Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad also had his views and opinions of others who are calling India an underachieving team as well. During a Q and A Prasad openly answered the question of if India are the new choker in cricket right now by saying “Chokers not, we have won 2 Test series against Australia in Australia, the last one in 2020-21 after 36 all out, I consider as one of India’s greatest especially with more than half first choice players missing. But there is certainly something not right about not winning any major tournament in 11 years.”

This statement itself proves how India has consistently performed despite their loss in these major tournaments. The two series win in Australia and reaching two consecutive World Test Championship(WTC) finals, is a big example of why the team is regarded highly in International cricket. The wait for a major trophy will still be frustrating, but it will be better that the nation does not forget what they have accomplished in the last two seasons, which still makes them a competitive team in cricket and they continue to grow from strength to strength.