Sachin's views are his personal: Kapil Dev evades queries

Kapil Dev

New Delhi: Cricket legend Kapil Dev yesterday refused to comment on Sachin Tendulkar's claim that despite being one of the finest Indian all-rounders of all time, the former skipper was disappointing as a coach and said it was the legendary batsman's "personal opinion".


Kapil Dev

"That's his opinion. Everyone has a right to give his opinion and I respect everybody's opinion. Good luck to him for his endeavour," Kapil replied, when asked about Tendulkar's remark in his book about his style of coaching.

Kapil interacted with the media after the launch of his new business venture, 'SloPho.com', India's first social gamified collaboration platform. Tendulkar in his just-released autobiography 'Playing It My Way', has claimed that he was left disappointed by Kapil during 1999-00 tour of Australia since the coach never involved himself in strategic discussions.

Kapil also refrained from making any predictations on India's chances of defending the title in the next year's ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. "Let's not jump into any conclusions. I want to wish all the luck to my countrymen, who are playing. I hope they go and play good cricket but I don't wish to make a judgement.

Winning and losing is a seperate thing. If they play good cricket that would be good enough," said the 1983 World Cup-winning team. Kapil and his former India team-mate Sunil Gavaskar, were yesterday invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be part of his delegation for tour to Australia.

It is being seen as a crafty move by Modi to use cricket diplomacy in Australia. Asked Kapil about his role in the Prime Minister's delegation, he said:"If the Prime Minister invites you to be the strength of your country, this is the least we can do.

If you want to make our country stronger, then you need to be a part of the process. "But I don't know what my role would be. It's upto the Prime Minister how he uses us," he said.