Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers to have played the game, world cup winning captain Kapil Dev has branded the current crop of India stars as much more fitter and hardworking than those from his era especially Jasprit Bumrah whom he reckons as a ‘1000 times better’ bowler than himself.
Kapil is one of the finest allrounders in the history of cricket who retired as the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket. He was the captain when India famously halted the West Indies juggernaut in the 1983 World Cup final to win the title for the first time in their history.
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A world-class fast bowler, Kapil was equally impactful as a batter with his innings of 175* against Zimbabwe during a world cup match that singlehandedly took his team to win part of cricket folklore.
“Bumrah is 1000 times better than me,” Kapil told news agency PTI. “These young boys are far better than us. We had more experience. They are better. They are very good. Outstanding. They are fitter. They are much more hardworking. They are fantastic.”
India are aiming to win the 2024 T20 World Cup title and have qualified for the semi-finals where they will face defending champions England on Thursday.
Kapil feels that instead of pointing out individual stars who can potentially be crucial to India’s chances, everybody should be encouraged to contribute.
“Why talk about only Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, or Kuldeep Yadav? Everybody has a role to play. Their job is to win the tournament,” Kapil said.
“To win a match, an odd person can come out, but to win a tournament everybody has to work together. If we are going to depend on Bumrah or Arshdeep, then you are going to lose it,” he added.
Kapil says to win a world cup, every player has to chip in within a team.
“Let’s talk about the team. That gives you a better perspective rather than the odd player. Yes main player is there and we can go around him. But everybody has to chip in to win the World Cup,” he said.
Citing the example from his own triumph in 1983, Kapi said, “Roger Binny, Mohinder Amarnath, Kirti Azad, Yashpal Sharma all came out with match-winning performances. If you start depending on one player it means you are not going to win tournaments more often.”
Kapil though feels that the role of a captain is overstated.
“Everybody can do captaincy. Hardik, Virat, Rohit everyone can do captaincy. When you give ball to somebody, the bowler has to do the job. Yes captain is there to help you out but it’s not like if you don’t win he is not a good captain.”
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