Former Indian opening batter Sadagoppan Ramesh has slammed the surfaces used in the three-game ODI series against the West Indies, despite India winning the series by 2-1, terming them non-ideal for the forthcoming ICC ODI World Cup 2027.
Speaking on his Instagram handle, Ramesh asserted that bowlers will definitely make an impact in the mega event in South Africa. He added that playing on flat tracks will hamper bowlers’ confidence.
“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,” Ramesh said.
“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,” he added.
Further, Ramesh requested Team India to play their home ODIs on challenging wickets. It’s important to note that the African wickets are expected to be a bit challenging for batters next year.
“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.
