No Pressure On Current Indian Team To Win World Cup, Says Kapil Dev As He Praises Virat Kohli

Former India skipper Kapil Dev has said that winning the World Cup is not the parameter to judge a team or captain. The legendary cricketer’s comment came on the 37th anniversary of the historic win in the 1983 World Cup final under his captaincy. Kapil Dev had led India to a miraculous win against the mighty West Indies at the iconic Lord’s.

It was India’s first-ever World Cup win. It took the country 28 more years to win another when MS Dhoni led the Men in Blue to glory in 2011. In the last two editions, India finished at semifinal stage under Dhoni and Virat Kohli. But despite the pressure on the current side from the fans to win the World Cup, Kapil Dev believes the team should not be under any pressure.

He also said that Virat Kohli is doing well as captain while also pointing out the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Sunil Gavaskar who did not win the World Cup as captains either.

“There is no pressure on the current Indian team, in my opinion, they are doing well, it’s not like that you need to win a World Cup to be called a good team,” Kapil Dev told ANI.

“Virat Kohli is doing well, Sourav Ganguly did well, how can we forget Sunil Gavaskar? He was a great captain too. Lifting the cup is not everything, how you shape up the team matters,” he added.

India have done really well across formats under Virat Kohli. Under him, India remained at the top of ICC Test rankings for more than three years and have also delivered consistently in ODIs and T20Is.

Under Virat Kohli, India won their first-ever Test and ODI series in Australia in 2018-19 season and also won ODI series in South Africa and New Zealand. As far as his record in ICC tournaments is concerned, he led India to the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semifinal of last year’s World Cup.

Also Read: “It Was Like A Hard Slap”: Balwinder Sandhu Recalls Being Hit On Helmet By Malcolm Marshall In 1983 WC Final

Also Read: Pakistan Name Uncapped Rohail Nazir As Back Up Wicket-Keeper For England Tour