Dhoni shouldn’t be arrogant, says Kapil Dev

Indian legend Kapil Dev insists his country’s current skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni must stay grounded if they are to end their 27-year World Cup drought.

By Alex Leach

Published: Thu 17 Mar 2011, 1:11 AM

Last updated: Tue 7 Apr 2015, 7:27 AM

Dhoni’s side have produced some indifferent displays in their Pool B games so far, leading to question marks over the team’s beleaguered bowling attack, forlorn fielding and the captain’s own calamitous choices at pivotal moments.

However, Dhoni’s occasionally exuberant approach and attitude remains pivotal to India’s chances in the competition overall, with the man who lifted the trophy back in 1983 believing it vital he stays level headed in the searing heat of battle. “Dhoni isn’t a bad captain, but he shouldn’t become arrogant,” the former right-arm fast bowler, 52, said.

“That’s the only thing. I hope he’s not arrogant. He has the guts. The way he started his career, he was more ruthless.

“Now though, I can see a change in his captaincy slightly, maybe because of the pressure.

“You don’t have to hit sixes to win the matches if you can win with a single. That’s called having a cricketing brain.

“You must also give a cricketer a long enough time to judge him. You cannot judge over the course of one or two series how well he has done.”

Kapil defended Dhoni in relation to team selection as well, feeling the selectors held more sway in that regard than the wicket-keeper/batsman himself, while stressing too any criticism of India’s performance or results is simply done in hindsight, adding: “Our thinking is dependent on the outcome and whether we win or not. It’s so easy for us to judge after the match.”

Meanwhile, Kapil has spoken out against plans to have only 10 ‘top teams’ at the next World Cup in 2015.

He is fearful such a strategy will only serve to minimise cricket’s global appeal at a time when the game’s governors should be doing all they can to widen its popularity across the world.

“I’d like to see 100 or even 150 teams in the World Cup, like in football and tennis.

“If you only want to see only eight countries playing cricket, then it becomes something like American baseball’s World Series, where they compete solely against each other,” explained Kapil, who highlighted the rapid emergence of Asian and African countries at recent football World Cups to back up his argument.

“Do I want to see that? No. I’d like to see 100 countries participating as then you can genuinely call yourselves world champions.

“But, there are only a handful of countries playing and they feel proud about themselves.

“The International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) duty is to try to promote the game and let more nations play. “Twenty years ago, Sri Lanka was a relatively new country to international cricket, but they’ve since won the World Cup.

“You must give other nationalities chances to pit their wits against a bigger team and better players and let the smaller countries pick up something.

“Therefore, they will improve. It will maybe take them one or two generations to do so, yet they will eventually improve.”

Kapil quizzed by youngsters

Kapil Dev spoke to Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Dubai University’s cricketing-playing students during his flying visit to Khaleej Times on Wednesday afternoon.

The youngsters quizzed the ex India paceman on certain experiences and instances throughout his glittering career, which saw him claim 434 wickets in 131 Tests and lead his native country to the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

Kapil, for his part, was keen to get across his involvement in cricketfreeQ – a multi-media website designed to promote the sport through an online medium amid the increasing time constraints of modern-day life.