New Delhi: Team India’s World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev slammed captain Virat Kohli’s “not brave enough” statement after India’s eight-wicket loss against New Zealand in Dubai in a Group 2 match of Super 12 in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 on Sunday. Strongly criticized. The chances of qualifying for the semi-finals were seriously in jeopardy after losing to New Zealand by 8 wickets. During the post-match press conference, a disappointed Virat Kohli said that his team is not showing bravery with the bat and the bowling.
“Extremely bizarre. To be very honest and brutal, I don’t think we were brave enough with bat or ball,” Kohli said. “Obviously we didn’t have much to play with the ball, but we weren’t brave enough in our body language when we hit the ground.
“New Zealand had better intensity and body language and put the pressure on us from the first over and kept it going through the innings. Every time we felt we wanted to take a chance, we lost a wicket.”
Legend Kapil Dev feels Virat Kohli’s ‘team not being brave’ is a ‘very weak statement’ and coach Ravi Shastri along with mentor MS Dhoni should boost the morale of Indian players.
Obviously, this is a very weak statement by a big player like Virat Kohli. We all know and we believe that he has the hunger and desire to win matches for the team.”
“But, if the body language of the team and the thought process of the captain is like this, it is very difficult to lift the mood of the players inside the dressing room,” he said, referring to Kohli’s statement that his teammates were not brave enough. bat, ball or in their body language.
“I would urge my friend Shastri and Dhoni to lift the team in this scenario, it is Dhoni’s job to talk to the players and make them believe,” he added.
Kapil said that relying on other results is never a good situation.
“If we have to move on the basis of someone else’s performance, I don’t like it. If you have to be in the semi-finals, do it on your own merit. I don’t think it’s a good idea. To someone else Hopefully,” he said.
“… we all appreciate when you do well. (But) some big names, the selectors now have to take a closer look at them, should the better performing youngsters be considered. These big guys, if they If he doesn’t score runs, he will face criticism,” he said, but did not name anyone.
(with inputs from PTI)
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