Kapil hopes India can reprise class of ‘83
dubai — They did it 36 years ago in England and the captain of that path-breaking Indian team, Kapil Dev, hoped that the present team will reprise that in the British Isles and win them a third World Cup.
The ‘Haryana Hurricane’ led that class of ‘83 quite admirably and Kapil felt that the current team, led by Virat Kohli, have it in them to lift the trophy on July 14.
“This Indian team looks a very good team,” said Kapil.
“It won’t be very easy. They have to play like a team and I hope they will have no injuries. If they have a stroke of luck, they will definitely win,” he added. The 60-year-old, who was named Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002, also backed the selectors in picking a strong squad, especially against the backdrop of the debate over Dinesh Karthik being picked ahead of Rishabh Pant.
“The selectors have done the job. Let’s respect their judgment in picking the Indian team. And if they have picked Karthik ahead of Rishabh Pant, that’s ok because we should believe that the selectors have done a good job,” he felt.
There have also been some murmurs about MS Dhoni’s spot in the squad with the former captain turning 37, but Kapil, who also served as the Indian coach, said there should absolutely be no doubts about his presence in the team.
“I don’t have to say anything about Dhoni. He has served the country so well. We should respect him,” Kapil said.
“Nobody knows how long he wants to play, how long his body can continue to cope with him playing. But there is no other cricketer who served the country so well. So, we should respect him and I hope he can win this World Cup,” he added. It has been an ongoing struggle for India to find an all-rounder in the same class of Kapil with many aspirants for the role and the former NCA chairman said he was blessed to have played in the same era as some great all-rounders.
“We were lucky to have to played at the same time as Richard Hadlee, (Ian) Botham, Imran (Khan), myself, it was just a stroke of luck that we came out and played at the same time and the media got the chance to compare,” said Kapil, who is the only player in history to have taken more than 400 wickets and scored more than 5000 runs in Test cricket.