NEW DELHI: Lauding Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s brave leadership, cricket legend Kapil Dev feels it is the Indian captain’s confidence in his players’ ability that makes them believe they can retain the World Cup.
India, who are undefeated in the tournament so far have won 11 straight games over two editions of the 50-over showpiece event, decimated Bangladesh in the quarter-finals to storm into the last-four stage.
Kapil, who led India to their first World Cup triumph in 1983, credits Dhoni for the clinical show.
“This Indian side is truly Dhoni’s team, he is a leader in the actual sense of the word. Most of the boys have played under him for some time now and seem to have a real connection with the skipper,” Kapil Dev, who is a part of the Hindi commentary panel for Star Sports, told PTI.
India have also managed to bowl out all their oppositions in the seven matches gone by as the bowling unit led by Mohammed Shami has looked potent. Kapil said that Dhoni is an excellent leader.
“Dhoni’s hold on the team is very evident from his body language and his constant interaction with the players. It is his confidence in the players’ ability which is helping them perform to their full potential and this is what gives them the belief to go all the way and retain the cup,” added Kapil on Dhoni’s new approach to motivate his boys.
Dhoni, who achieved the unbelievable feat of leading India to 100 ODI wins as captain, surpassed Hansie Cronje’s wins of 99 as South African skipper. He is only behind Australian greats Ricky Ponting (165) and Allan Border (107) as ‘Captain Cool’ gears up for his fourth ICC title.
Dhoni is also the only captain to win all three ICC tournaments –
World T20 (2007), World Cup (2011) and Champions Trophy (2013). Kapil was quick to highlight Sourav Ganguly’s contribution to Indian cricket and said that Dhoni has carried forward the mettle. “The current players in the team have performed exceptionally overseas. Full credit goes to Sourav Ganguly who made the country believe that team India can perform well overseas. Sourav had turned team India’s fortune in the overseas games and Dhoni has led his team well to carry on from where Sourav left,” added Kapil.
Much to everybody’s surprise, India turned around their fortunes in the quadrennial extravaganza after a below par showing in the Test series against Australia and the tri-series that followed. Kapil lauded the selectors for backing a young side in testing conditions in Australia and New Zealand.
“The selectors have done a magnificent job this time, they have shown full trust on Dhoni’s leadership skills and handed him a team full of young blood to perform against the world’s best. It will be interesting to see how team India performs in this crucial stage of the tournament,” the Haryana Hurricane said.–PTI
