The BCCI could have handled the scheduling and ticketing process of the World Cup in a better way, says former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad, who insisted that his outburst on social media on the issue is in no way a tirade against any individual.
The ICC in consultation with hosts BCCI rescheduled as many as nine games, including the marquee India vs Pakistan match, which was originally scheduled on October 15 in Ahmedabad but had to be advanced by a day on account of Navratri celebrations.
Prasad has often taken to social media platform 'X' (formerly twitter) to share his opinion.
However, one of his tweets on Saturday that caught attention was: "It takes one corrupt, arrogant guy to take away the hardwork of an organisation that is generally non-corrupt and get a stamp of corruption on the whole leadership, not just on micro level but at a large level."
On Sunday morning he modified the tweet to say:"It takes one corrupt, arrogant guy to take away the hardwork of an otherwise non-corrupt organisation and spoil the reputation of an entire organisation & the impact isn't just micro but at a macro level. This is true in every field, be it politics, sports, journalism, corporate." While he did not mention any name, there were conjectures on social media on who could have been Prasad's target of ire.
"Nothing personal, just observation," Prasad told PTI when asked if it was meant towards any particular official.
So were you misinterpreted?
"100 percent. That (corrupt) I meant generally in all aspects of life. Be it airline industry, banking industry, even IPL franchises have been banned as well.
"Since in my other tweets, I had tweeted about tickets, it looked mixed up. My criticism for BCCI was clear about the ticketing and scheduling," he said, clarifying his position.
Many in BCCI believe that since he hasn't been a part of system for sometime, he has been angry?
"Not at all. I have, in-fact been offered positions but not ready for it," he vehemently denied any such conjectures.
For him, he was only pointing at what everyone is talking about the organisational part.