Former Indian opener Sadagopan Ramesh has questioned India’s preparation for the 2027 ODI World Cup after the team played a series of high-scoring matches against the West Indies. India won the three-match ODI series 2-1, but Ramesh believes the batting-friendly pitches could create problems for the team, with the World Cup on the cards.
India was able to chase down 406 runs on a flat deck at Guwahati on Wednesday whereas the West Indies were able to register a five-wicket win after chasing down 352 runs at New Chandigarh on Saturday. The hosts got off to a sedate start in the first 15 overs as the pitch had something for the the West Indies pacers but batsmanship once again became easier as the game progressed.
Ramesh said playing on such batting friendly pitches will demotivate the bowlers whereas the batters will become overconfident.
Sadagopan Ramesh said on his Instagram handle, “The World Cup will be played in South Africa, where the bowlers will definitely make an impact. By playing on such wickets in this series, the bowlers’ confidence would have come down, while it would make the batters overconfident.”
“This series hasn’t helped India’s World Cup preparation. The batters dominated the entire series. It was at least 7.5 runs an over scored on average, irrespective of who batted. Only 33 wickets fell in the entire series, which accounts for a bowling average of 63. It clearly shows that the bowlers had no role and only the batters dominated in this series.”
The former flamboyant batter said India should play on challenging wickets to prepare for the World Cup in the best possible way.
“With the World Cup in mind, India should play their home series on more challenging wickets. India should have done that in this series itself, which they missed out on,” said Ramesh (via the aforementioned source).
India will next take on the West Indies in a five-match T20I series, starting Tuesday.
