India’s first-ever World Cup-winning captain, Kapil Dev, today opened up on the idea of a split coaching role in Indian cricket. Gautam Gambhir is India’s head coach across all formats. However, there were calls for him to be replaced as the head coach in Test cricket after India were whitewashed by South Africa at home recently. Meanwhile, India have been playing superbly in white-ball cricket but have struggled in the longest format in the last 12 to 15 months.
However, Kapil steered himself clear of the idea of split coaching in red-ball and white-ball formats and put the onus on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to make a decision that will work in favour of Indian cricket. “I don’t know. I can’t answer that. You have to really work something like that in your mind and say what should happen. Whatever is good for cricket, I think they should do it,” he said.
Kapil Dev weighs in on the league vs country debate
Moreover, Kapil Dev also shared his opinion on the players preferring T20 leagues more compared to featuring for the country. He reckoned that playing for the country is always more important than in the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, he also went on to add that every individual and their thinking is different.
“Everybody loves money, but some players feel that is very important. I still feel playing for India is more important than playing IPL. But everybody is individual, they have their own thought process. Good luck to them,” Kapil added.
The 66-year-old also stated that player scrutiny has always been there and nothing has changed even though there have been indications that social media has made life tough for cricketers in modern-day cricket. “No, it’s always the same. It was difficult then, it is difficult now. It was easy then and it is easy now. Your mindset is more important,” Kapil further added.
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