World winning Captain and legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev slammed players of the current Indian cricket team, saying money and success had made them arrogant and overconfident and prevented them from approaching up to legends of the game for advice.
“Differences come out; the good (thing) about these players… is that they are very confident. Negative point is they think they know everything. I don’t know how to put it better than that. But they are confident, but they think ‘you don’t have to ask anybody’. What we believe is an experienced person can help you,” Kapil Dev said.
“Sometimes too much money comes, arrogance comes. These cricketers think they know everything. That’s the difference. I would say there are so many cricketers who need help. When Sunil Gavaskar is there, why can’t you talk? Where is the ego? There is no ego as such. They feel ‘we are good enough’. Maybe they are good enough, but extra help from somebody who has seen 50 seasons of cricket, he knows things. Listening sometimes can change your thought,” said Kapil Dev.
Kapil Dev had also recently commented on Hardik Pandya’s fitness and believed that the all-rounder, who currently leads India in the T20I format and is Rohit Sharma’s deputy in ODIs, can handle the rigours of Test cricket and represent the nation in all three formats.
“Nobody has had more breakdowns than Dennis Lillee. So I don’t believe that. Human body can come back from any corner, come back into top condition,” Kapil Dev told The Week.
Kapil Dev also criticised India’s handling of injuries especially in the World Cup year, that is scheduled to be held in October-November 2023. He named Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant, both are out of team with severe injuries.
“What happened to Bumrah? He started working with so much belief, but if he’s not there (in World Cup semi-final/final)… we wasted time on him. Rishabh Pant… such a great cricketer. Had he been there, our Test cricket would’ve been better,” Kapil Dev said.
He also blamed the IPL for the ever-growing list of injuries in Indian cricket. He said that players nowadays would skip playing for India if they have the slightest of injuries, but will play in the IPL.
Kapil Dev further added that, “God is kind, it’s not as if I never got injured. But today, they are playing 10 months in a year. Give a benefit of doubt to that, but everybody has to look after themselves. IPL is a great thing but IPL can spoil you also. Because a little bit of injuries and you will play in IPL. A little bit of injuries, you won’t play for India. You would take a break. I’m being very open about it.”
“If you have a small injury, you would play in IPL if it’s an important game. At this stage, cricket board has to understand how much cricket they should play. That is the bottom line. If today, you have resources, money, but you don’t have three or five-year calendars. There’s something wrong with cricket board there,” he added.
It is to be noted that, following India’s loss in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final against Australia at The Oval, Sunil Gavaskar also slammed the Indian team and questioned their reluctance to seek advice from former cricketers.
Gavaskar had said that while big players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman would regularly walk up to him for advice on techniques, the same cannot be said of the current crop of players.
Notably, even when India bowlers dismissed West Indies batting line-up for merely 114 in the first ODI, they lost five wickets in the run-chase after both, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli didn’t bat until the fifth wicket; Rohit had to bat with only Kohli remaining among recognised batters in the order.
In the second ODI, India decided to rest both, Rohit and Kohli and the batting line-up collapsed, being bowled on 181 before conceding a six-wicket loss.
Indian youngsters are still finding feet in ODI cricket, while – Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul – are still nursing their injuries, Rishabh Pant also remains unavailable after a severe car accident in December last year. Combining everything the situation doesn’t look good for Rohit and company as they head into the ODI World Cup this year.
