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‘When they made me captain, I don’t think I deserved it’: Kapil Dev
India's first World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev shared experiences from his playing days, in which he discussed in length about leading the team and learnings from his former teammates.
India's first World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev shared experiences from his playing days, in which he discussed in length about leading the team and learnings from his former teammates.
The interaction was a part of CRED's latest series ‘The Long Game’, where cricketers share insights on their lives, careers and learnings.
Narrating an interesting episode from his glorious cricketing chapters, Kapil spoke about the time when he was removed as a captain in 1984 for a match at the Eden Gardens, after he played a reckless drive in the previous encounter.
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“When they made me captain, I don’t think I deserved it,” he said and added: “and when they removed me as captain, I told myself I must have not done something good. But one thing I know about captaincy is - when we win it is never ‘I won’ but when we lose, the captain has to take the responsibility. What you need however as a captain most is commitment from the team. Talented people can still let you down but people who are committed will never let you down.”
Kapil was promoted to the leadership position at a very young age of 23, and the following year he delivered the country its first World Cup. Recalling that phase of his career, Kapil said: “I was very young. I had so many senior and remarkably talented cricketers with me and my job was to take them along. I could not tell Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Madan Lal, (Syed) Kirmani how to do their job. I had to make sure I kept them together and I always said one thing - once you enter the cricket ground nobody is better than you. Respect the opponent as much as you can before the match or after the match and when you are on the field, nobody is better than you.”
Kapil also lauded Gavaskar's commitment towards the sport and shared his learnings from him. “Sunil Gavaskar was so committed to his work which was inspirational. Sometimes you learn from your colleagues. Once he said you can’t make a hundred in one over so you have to keep small targets. You should have a target of 15 runs, 40 runs, 60 runs, 80 runs and then you can reach a 100. Don’t put pressure on yourself straight away to reach a 100,” said Kapil, looking at a photo of himself with Gavaskar.
