Bangalore: Cricketer-of-the-century award winner, Kapil Dev on Friday defended the government's decision of not permitting the BCCI to play cricket with Pakistan till the tension between the two countries de-escalated.
"Is the country important or playing cricket? To me the country is more important than playing the game for the amusement of some," the 1983 World Cup winning team captain told reporters. Kapil, who is on a day's visit to the city as the brand ambassador of Kinetic's new 100 cc motorcycle 'BOSS', said it is the policy of the government not resume playing cricket with Pakistan and added he wished that relations between the two nations improve as early as possible. "Emotion is not important than the country," he remarked when asked whether he would play a role in normalisation of sports relations between India and Pakistan. Kapil, on being asked whom he would vote to be the next World Cup winners, said, India has everything that a champion team requires, but hastened to add, "I would rate the Aussies, as the favourites." He said, "At the end, what makes the difference is who won. Considering the performance of Saurav Ganguly's team in the last six months, it can make it." Kapil said even best of the teams have fumbled at the post on several occasions. Replying to a query on the 'interference' by the government in sports, he quipped, "We have not taken sports as a profession in the country unlike Americans or Europeans and play sports for fun." Kapil said there was nothing wrong in players forming an association, if it helped the game. The players need to have someone to talk on their behalf, so that they can concentrate on the play, he said. Queried whether Virender Sehwag, who is in good form now, would replace Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil emphatically said, "Definitely not." "Sachin is a better player and he can play in any batting order and has the ability to conquer the world." The legendary cricketer advised Indian players against straining themselves playing more cricket ahead of the World up. Extras:
'No move to resume Indo-Pak matches in near future'
Thatsspecial: Windies Quest
Tags: cricket, bangalore, kapil dev, bcci, pakistan, india, world cup, aussies, saurav ganguly, virender sehwag, sachin tendulkar.
|
Other sections
|
|
|
E-mail
To the Editor
Print
Be the first to comment this article.