COURTESY HT NOV 21

It’s not about can our bowlers get 20 wkts, but can batsmen get 400 runs’

Kapil Dev
HT Correspondent

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : India’s build-up to the Australia Test series is no longer about the bowlers being able to take 20 wickets — they can — but whether the batsmen can stand up to Australia’s pacers thirsting to make amends for the defeat in 2018, cricket legend Kapil Dev said on Friday.

“Let me put it differently. Looking at our pace attack, it will be about the batsmen. We’re not sure our batsmen will score 400 runs (in an innings). If our batsmen don’t struggle, we won’t have any problem,” the 1983 World Cup-winning skipper said during an interaction at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2020, where he was in conversation with senior journalist Ayaz Memon.

Praising fast bowlers, Dev said, “Fast bowlers will go for higher value than batsmen...we have bowlers who can take 20 wickets. We can produce spinners but they can’t do well unless they have fast bowlers.”

On Virat Kohli’s paternity leave, he said, “I don’t think we could afford (leaving a tour midway)... Sunil Gavaskar didn’t see his newborn son for months. Kohli came back the day after his father died to play a Ranji game. Now he can afford (to return home). I feel happy today’s sportsmen can do that...The biggest passion is having a baby.”