'I See A Tremendous Amount Of Self-belief In Him'- Kris Srikkanth Compares Kapil Dev With Virat Kohli

On a 16th of October 1978, a young boy with the ambition of becoming the best in the world made his debut for the Indian Cricket team at Iqbal Stadium against Pakistan. Over the course of the next 16 years, that young boy from Haryana would go on to become an instigator of whirlwind change in Indian cricket. Apart from leading India to a miraculous win in the 1983 World Cup where the Men in Blue defied all the odds to humble world champions West Indies at Lord’s, Kapil Dev came in as a breadth of fresh air in Indian cricket.

Before the emergence of the ‘Haryana Hurricane’, India were mainly a spin-dominated bowling unit with the likes of Bhagwat Chandrashekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi leading the attack. That all changed in 1978 when Kapil Dev came on the scene. Kapil’s success NOT only gave an ambition to small town India to dream of one day representing the country but it also urged budding cricketers to take up fast bowling.

One of the greatest qualities of Kapil Dev was the immense belief and confidence that he had in his abilities. And, that showed on the cricket field! His 175 against the Zimbabweans in the 1983 World Cup after the Men in Blue had been reduced to 5-17, was a reflection of the aforementioned fact.

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Kris Srikkanth Compares Kapil Dev With Virat Kohli:

According to former swashbuckling opener Kris Srikkanth, someone who played a lot of cricket with and under Kapil Dev, it is none other than Indian captain Virat Kohli.

“I played with Kapil Dev and played under him. I can compare Virat Kohli with Kapil Dev. I see a tremendous amount of self-belief in him,” Srikkanth said during an interaction with former cricketers Nasser Hussain and VVS Laxman during Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’.

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And, it is hard to argue with the former chairman of selectors. Virat Kohli, during his 11-year-old year has shown multiple times that he has enough self-belief in his abilities. Whenever he has been pushed to a corner, the Indian captain, who averages over 50 across formats of the game, has roared back like a wounded lion and the way in which he came back post that tumultuous tour of England in 2014 remains one of the many examples of the aforementioned fact.