I'm Disappointed And Disheartened: Kapil Dev On Team India's Loss In World Cup Final

While Kapil Dev has been urging Team India’s players to stay strong and move on after the heartbreaking defeat in the World Cup final, he is personally struggling to accept the loss. India’s first-ever World Cup winning captain, on Wednesday (November 22), said that he is disheartened that the Men in Blue failed to go all the way despite playing so well.

Team India were the most dominant side in the World Cup as they toyed with the opposition. They won all of their nine league games in dominating fashion before thrashing New Zealand by 70 runs in the semifinals. Not many were expecting the team to lose the final let alone losing it so badly. However, Australia thoroughly outplayed India in the title-decider to clinch their sixth World Cup title.

Asked to bat first, India could only post a modest total of 240 runs despite half-centuries from KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. In reply, Australia were reeling at 47 for 3 before Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne stitched together a 192-run stand to seal the game for their team. Head scored 137 off 120 balls while Labuschagne remained unbeaten on 58 off 110 balls.

Kapil Dev struggling to accept Team India’s loss:

Just like Team India stars and the fans, Kapil Dev is also finding it tough to accept India’s heartbreaking loss in the final. Speaking at an event, the former India captain praised India’s stars for playing well and also said that the Australian players should be respected for playing well in the final.

“Today’s cricketers, sorry they couldn’t win the World Cup, but they played well. I know in our mind, winning is everything. But the way of play is more important. Other people had also come here to play. Other people played better (on the) last day. We should respect that,” Kapil Dev was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

“I’m disappointed and disheartened that they played so well and yet they couldn’t win the trophy. But (it) doesn’t matter. Let’s hope what we didn’t understand this time, we’ll learn and do it better. That’s the way we are,” he added.

Team India will be in action again on Thursday (November 23) when they take on Australia in the first of the five-match T20I series. The match is scheduled to take place in Vizag.