Srinagar: Former World Cup winning India skipper Kapil Dev has lashed out at Team India cricketers for giving preferences to IPL riches over National duty.
With months to go for the ODI World Cup, Team India’s preparations for the marquee home tournament hasn’t inspired much confidence so far.
Team India key players, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul are still nursing their injuries, while Rishabh Pant also remains unavailable after a severe car accident in December last year.
Combine everything, and the situation – at least at the moment – doesn’t look positive for Rohit and co. as they head into the ODI World Cup.
In an interview with The Week magazine, Kapil Dev spoke in great detail about some of the key players like Bumrah and Pant, and insisted that the advent of the Indian Premier League has made it difficult for players to look after themselves.
“What happened to Bumrah? He started working with so much belief, but if he’s not there (in World Cup semi-final/final)… we wasted time on him. Rishabh Pant… such a great cricketer. Had he been there, our Test cricket would’ve been better,” Kapil said.
“God is kind, it’s not as if I never got injured. But today, they are playing 10 months in a year. Give a benefit of doubt to that, but everybody has to look after themselves. IPL is a great thing but IPL can spoil you also. Because, a little bit of injuries and you will play in IPL. A little bit of injuries, you won’t play for India. You would take a break. I’m being very open about it,” said the former India all-rounder.
Kapil also urged the Indian cricket board to be proactive in handling injury-related issues, as well as cricketing calendars.
“If you have a small injury, you would play in IPL if it’s an important game. At this stage, cricket board has to understand how much cricket they should play. That is the bottomline. If today, you have resources, money, but you don’t have three or five-year calendars. There’s something wrong with cricket board there,” said Kapil.