With the Indian team going great guns and heading towards a potential victory in the first Test in Perth, legendary World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev is all praise for the team and in particular stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah had equalled Kapil Dev’s record of seven five-wicket hauls in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries with his fifer in the first innings of the Perth Test and Kapil said Bumrah’s stats speak for him.
“There is nothing left to talk about him. Bumrah’s records speak for him and tells you that he is the world’s number one bowler. What more do you want. We never thought that there will be a day when we will talk so much about a fast bowler in India but I feel so happy and proud of his achievements,” the ‘Haryana Hurricane’ said, on the sidelines of the Vishwa Samudra Golden Eagle Golf Championship.
The former India skipper stated he was pleasantly surprised by the Indian team’s resilient comeback in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after the huge disappointment of being whitewashed in the home Test series against New Zealand recently.
“The Indian team is playing very well. They can win the Perth Test, why not?. We have to be positive and think positive. I had not expected them to play so well after the series loss to New Zealand at home. We get disappointed and angry when they play poor cricket but feel proud when they are playing well like this,” he added.
The iconic all-rounder heaped praise on the entire team and refused to single out individuals for special credit.
“It’s a team game and I will not speak about individuals. Everyone played well. It’s the Indian team playing, so I don’t want to talk about individual players.”
The former India captain also appreciated Bumrah for skippering the team as a bowler as it was a rare occurence in cricket and especially in Indian cricket.
“Please don’t speak about individuals. Focus on the team and team is doing very well and special congratulations to Bumrah for his great bowling and captaincy. There are very few bowlers who become captains and it is wonderful to see him captaining so well,” Kapil Dev said.
Talking about his presence at the Vishwa Samudra Golden Eagle Golf Championship, Kapil felt it was great to see corporate support for such events.
” I’m feeling good to be here. Corporate world is coming forward to support and help the sports and golf. This was not the case earlier but now things are changing. Good to see that,” he added.
