Chennai: Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev said on Thursday that 'too much' of cricket playing by the Indian team on the foreign and domestic soil was having a 'telling effect' some times on the team's performance.
It looks to me that hotels have now become their homes and homes have become their hotels," he said while answering questions from reporters after visiting a couple of dealers for Kinetic motorcycle, 'Boss', launched in June last. Kapil, who is the brand ambassador for Pune-based Kinetic Engineering, said the performance of any team would come down if there was too much cricket. "It is important that everyone should look for the quality and not quantity. Some times quantity tells on the quality of matches," he said. Stressing that the Indian team was 'doing very well' now under the captaincy of Saurav Ganguly, he said though it would not be easy, India has a fair chance of winning the next World Cup. There is lot of time between now and the World Cup, scheduled for next year, and South African pitches offered lot of bounces, he said. "Our players should not get injured since they play too many matches. India definitely has a chance to win in the World Cup and our team members should not play under pressure," he said. Asked to comment on the 'poor' performance of the West Indies team in recent times, Kapil, the Wisden's Cricketer-of-the-Century, said, "It is not up to top the standard now when compared to the team in late 70s." "Top order batsmen like Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, Garry Sobers and Desmond Haynes having gone out of the team, there are no big players now, except Brian Lara," he said adding that the team was having 'lot of problems' now. 'The West Indies team of today is not the same team compared to the one more than a decade ago. We used to enjoy their batting style in those days. In the days to come, West Indies may emerge as a better team," he said. Asked which cricket team was the best in the world today, the former skipper said in the last four or five years the Australian team was emerging as the best. "I would say that Australian team, at the moment, is the best team, both in One-dayers and in Tests," he said. When a correspondent asked why he was not taking up to cricket commentaries like Ravi Shastri, Sanjay Manjrekar and others, Kapil said, "I am not a good speaker. It is very difficult to sit in one place for the whole day and give commentaries. People like Ravi Shastri are doing a good job. My mind is not that prepared to take the commentary job seriously." Extras:
Thatsspecial: Windies Quest
Tags: cricket, chennai, india, kapil dev, indian captain saurav ganguly, world cup, south african, wisden, vivian richards, clive lloyd, garry sobers, desmond haynes, brian lara, west indies team, ravi shastri, sanjay manjrekar.
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