I’m concerned about India making it to the top four: Kapil Dev

Legendary India all-rounder Kapil Dev has gone on to say that Rohit Sharma and his men aren’t the favourites to win the T20 World Cup in Australia. In fact, he is concerned about India’s chances of even making it to the semifinals.

India have gone through a lot of changes since the last T20 World Cup in the UAE. They have a new captain and coach while match-winners like Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah got ruled out with injuries as well.

Dev, who led India to win the 198e World Cup, said that this team has only a 30 per cent chance to win the T20 World Cup this time.

“In T20 cricket, the team winning one match can lose the next. It’s very difficult to talk about the chances of India winning the World Cup. The issue is can they make it to the top four? And I am concerned about their making it to the top four. Only then anything can be said. For me, it’s just a 30 percent chance of India making it to the top (last) four,” Kapil Dev said on Tuesday at the sidelines of a promotional event in Lucknow.

But Dev went on to heap praise on a lot of players like Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav. He talked a lot about Pandya in particular, how he is a match-winner and the backbone for India due to his all-round abilities.

“All-rounders are the key players of any side, and they become the strength of a team. An all-rounder like Hardik gives Rohit Sharma the liberty to make use of the sixth bowler in a match. He is a good batter, bowler, and fielder too. Ravindra Jadeja is also a perfect all-rounder for India. Even in our days, we had plenty of all-rounders in the India team,” he added.

Regarding Suryakumar, Dev said that his inclusion in the Indian playing XI makes their batting line-up really strong.

“In fact, no one ever thought about Yadav being an impact player in the future, but he did great with his batting and forced the world to talk about him. Now, we can’t think about India without him. Having a batter like Suryakumar in the team in the company of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, a team automatically becomes strong,” he added.