File image of Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar© AFP
Indian cricket over the years has seen a sea change. From being minnows in the 70s, Indian cricket has come a long way. The financial might that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has translated it into hosting the costliest cricket tournament in the world – the Indian Premier League. The players have got richer too. From high-paid central contracts to lucrative IPL deals to costly brand endorsements, for an Indian cricketer, the avenues of income are manifold. However, despite such riches, India’s 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev feels there is always room for improvement.
“Differences come out, the good (thing) about these players…is that they are very confident. Negative point is they think they know everything. I don’t know how to put it better than that. But they are confident, but they think ‘you don’t have to ask anybody’. What we believe is an experienced person can help you,” Kapil Dev said on The Week.
“Sometimes too much money comes, arrogance comes. These cricketers think they know everything. That’s the difference. I would say there are so many cricketers who need help. When Sunil Gavaskar is there, why can’t you talk? Where is the ego? There is no ego as such. They feel ‘we are good enough’. Maybe they are good enough, but extra help from somebody who has seen 50 seasons of cricket, he knows things. Listening sometimes can change your thought.”
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, one of the most respect names in Indian cricket, had recently that current Indian cricketers have rarely come to him for advice.
“No, no one has come. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman regularly came to me. And they would approach me with a specific problem and you could tell them something which you had observed. I don’t have an ego about this, I could go and talk to them but since there are two coaches – Rahul Dravid and Vikram Rathore – so sometimes you hold back since you don’t want to confuse them with too much information,” Gavaskar recently told The Indian Express.
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