Kapil Dev, India’s World Cup-winning skipper, has recently expressed serious doubts about India’s qualification to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Team India under the leadership of Rohit Sharma will start their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in this mega event on 23 October. Apart from this, India will be locking horns with Bangladesh and South Africa in the group stage and the other two teams will be decided after the completion of the qualification round.
On the sidelines of the promotional event in Lucknow, as per the quotes in Hindustan Times, Kapil Dev said, “What more do you want in the side other than having all-rounders who could win matches for a side not only in the World Cup but in all other matches or events? A cricketer like Hardik Pandya has been quite useful for India. All-rounders are the key players of any side, and they become the strength of a team.”
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He further added, “An all-rounder like Hardik gives Rohit Sharma the liberty to make use of the sixth bowler in a match. He is a good batter, bowler, and fielder too. It’s a very difficult to talk about the chances of India winning the World Cup. The issue is can they make it to the top four? And I am concerned about their making it to the top four, only then anything can be said. For me, it’s just 30 % chance of India making it to the top (last) four.”
When asked about the batting for the flamboyant Indian all-arounder, Hardik Pandya, who has being dubbed as another ‘Kapil Dev”, the former India skipper said it was good someone followed him.
The former skipper elaborated, “In our days too, we had idols, we used to follow them. It’s good that new benchmarks are being set by young cricketers. It’s a very good sign for a team and I believe that everyone should keep working hard to set much higher benchmarks.
Terming Mohammed Shami a suitable replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah, Kapil Dev said that a lot will depend on how Rohit uses Shami.
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On Suryakumar Yadav, he said a year ago, none spoke about the batter, but he has transformed into one of the finest batters in the world. “In fact, no one ever thought about Yadav being an impact player in the future, but he did great with his batting and forced the world to talk about him. Now, we can’t think about India without him. Having a batter like Suryakumar in the team in the company of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, a team automatically becomes strong.”
