Kapil Dev backs the Indian bowlers ahead of Australia series
Legend Kapil Dev has placed his bets on the Indian bowling contingent ahead of the impending Australian tour. Speaking on the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, he said Team India's success in the whites will rely largely on the fast bowlers. Dev particularly backed pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for the tour. Notably, the gruelling tour will begin with the three-ODI series on November 27.
He feels fast bowlers will carry more responsibility
At the moment, the Indian pace-bowling attack comprise Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj. Notably, Ishant Sharma is yet to travel Down Under. Speaking on the same, Dev said, "Considering our pace attack, it'll be about the batsmen. We are not sure if our batsmen will score 400 runs. If they don't struggle, we won't have any problem."
Bumrah has been Team India's prized possession
Shedding more light on Bumrah, Dev added that the Indian speedster stands out among all. Rightly so, Bumrah will be Team India's prized possession in the Test series. He recently finished the IPL as the second-highest wicket-taker (27) and the bowler with best average (14.96). Interestingly, Bumrah also had the joint-most wickets on the previous Australian tour (21), along with Nathan Lyon.
Dev highlights Brian Lara's statement on Bumrah
Earlier this month, the Caribbean great, Brian Lara, heaped praise on Bumrah, stating that he would have preferred facing Javagal Srinath or Kapil Dev, instead of the latter. Dev highlighted Lara's statement. "Bumrah is not an Indian bowler," remarked Dev.
'Bowlers are running away from art of swing-bowling'
Till date, Kapil Dev remains the greatest Indian fast bowler, who could swing the ball at will. However, he believes the contemporary age speedsters lack this skill. "This IPL (the players) realised swing is more important than pace. Even Sandeep Sharma bowled 120 kph, but was more effective as he was swinging. They are running away from the art," he added.
Sandeep became the leading wicket-taker in the powerplay (IPL)
Dev spoke on the success of Sandeep Sharma, who disarrayed the batsmen with purely his swing in the IPL 2020. During the tournament, he became the leading wicket-taker in the powerplay overs (IPL). He now has 53 wickets at 27.3 in this phase.
Kapil Dev against the idea of split captaincy
After Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to a fifth IPL title, several debates started doing rounds regarding split-captaincy. However, Dev feels this system won't work in Team India. "Our 80 per cent of the team across formats is the same team. They don't like captains having different theory. It may bring more differences between the players who look up to the captain," he concluded.
