West Indies beat India by six wickets in the second one-day international at Barbados on Saturday, claiming their first victory over the Asian side in nearly four years to level the series at 1-1 and force a decider. Batting first, India were bowled out for 181 in 40.1 overs with disappointing performances from most of the batters except openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill. Hardik Pandya who took the helm of the team said that his batters didn’t bat the way they were supposed to. Criticism was also seen as senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma stayed out of second ODI played yesterday.
Amidst this, a big statement has come from the former captain Kapil Dev. In an interview with The Week, Kapil Dev said that he feels a lot of the current players are very confident but equally, the negative side to this, he said, “they think they know everything. They think they don’t have to seek advice from anyone.”
His statements came in context with what last month Sunil Gavaskar said when India lost the match against Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final. He had said that except for Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, none of the players ever came to him for advice. He also mentioned as to why he also kept himself away from approaching the players.
While speaking to the Indian Express, Gavaskar last month said, “No, no one has come. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman regularly came to me. And they would approach me with a specific problem and you could tell them something which you had observed. I don’t have an ego about this, I could go and talk to them but since there are two coaches — Rahul Dravid and Vikram Rathore – so sometimes you hold back since you don’t want to confuse them with too much information.”
Now Kapil Dev has also spoken about Gavaskar’s comments on the current players. While speaking to The Week, he said, “Sometimes, when too much money comes, arrogance comes. These cricketers, they feel they know everything. That’s the difference. I would say there are so many cricketers who need help.”
Backing Gavaskar’s claims, he said as quoted by the daily, “When Sunil Gavaskar is there, why can’t you talk? Why should there be ego? They feel they are good enough. Maybe they are good enough, but extra help from somebody, who has seen 50 seasons of cricket, won’t hurt.”
He was also asked if any fast bowlers had ever approached him to which he said, “No, they don’t.”
Further adding he said, “I learnt one thing from Sunil Gavaskar, “Never give advice till they need advice; till they ask for it,” as quoted by The Week.
During a career in which Kapil Dev played 131 Tests and 225 ODIs, he never really had to take a break owing to injury.
After India’s defeat against West Indies yesterday, Former Indian batter Saba Karim lashed out at Team India for its team management, change in batting order. He further pointed out that the key players were resting with just few months for the World Cup. His comments came on to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who stayed out of second ODI played against West Indies yesterday.
Coming back to Karim, who is currently an expert on JioCinema for the series questioned, “Why are Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not playing? What’s the point of taking them with the side if they’re not playing? Why not take fresh faces then? Ideally, they should be playing because World Cup is near, you don’t have much time left.”
Earlier, on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma not playing, Hardik Pandya had said that the two senior players are playing constant cricket, so they are resting for this match which will help them to remain fresh during the third ODI.
Moreover, India head coach Rahul Dravid has defended his decision to rest Sharma and Kohli in the second ODI against West Indies. The Indian team management’s decision to rest regular skipper Rohit and star batter Virat Kohli badly backfired as the visitors were bowled out for 181 in 40.5 overs. Dravid said that the team was “not worried about every single game and single series” and will have to try out other players ahead of the World Cup. The former India batting stalwart said the move to rest Rohit and Kohli was to create enough bench strength which can be used in necessity.
“We will always look at the bigger picture. At this stage in the cycle, the Asia Cup and World Cup coming up we have to look at the bigger picture because of some of the injuries we have. We can’t get worried about every single game. every single series, if we do that it will be a mistake,” Dravid said after the match as quoted by PTI.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Updated: 30 Jul 2023, 01:38 PM IST
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