Appointing Sachin Tendulkar the vice captain of the Indian cricket team is going a step backward and instead, the team should have gone for a younger player for the job, opined World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev.
In "Kapil Da Jawab", a World Cup special show on Aaj Tak channel to be telecast later on Saturday, the former all-rounder said ideally, a younger player should have been selected for the job and groomed so that he could take the rein of captaincy in future.
"Sachin has never shown any interest on becoming the captain of the team. So why has he been made the vice-captain?" Kapil asked.
"I feel the vice captain should have been someone young, so that we could have groomed him for captaincy," he added.
The former captain was also surprised that Tendulkar agreed to the vice captain's role despite declaring in 2000 that he was no more interested in leading the side.
"Sachin had never said anything publicly about his desire of becoming the captain again. If he wants to take up the job, he should say it openly and not merely talk to the selectors," he said.
Reposing faith in Rahul Dravid's captaincy, Kapil said 'The Wall' should continue in the job and even felt that former skipper Sourav Ganguly could have been a better choice for the vice-captain's job.
{{/usCountry}}Reposing faith in Rahul Dravid's captaincy, Kapil said 'The Wall' should continue in the job and even felt that former skipper Sourav Ganguly could have been a better choice for the vice-captain's job.
{{/usCountry}}"Till the time Rahul Dravid is playing, I think he should remain the captain. In fact, if Sourav Ganguly could fit into the side, he would have been a better deputy," Kapil said.
He also felt that the impending World Cup is more important to the Team India cricketers than their Australian coach Greg Chappell.
"How is the World Cup important to Chappell? It doesn't make any difference to him whether the Indian team loses or wins. It will only affect Indian cricket," he argued.
On his differences with former teammate Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil said they had different approach to the game.
"There could have been a difference of opinion on certain issues but both of us worked for the betterment of the team. When it came to the team's interest, we gave our best," he added.