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Kapil Dev is India’s greatest match-winner, says Sunil Gavaskar

The legendary cricketers share a great camaraderie. Sunil Gavaskar said that fellow teammate Kapil Dev was an inspiration behind next generation of fast bowlers.

Sunil Gavaskar said Kapil Dev was the inspiration that drove the next generation of fast bowlers like Chetan Sharma and Javagal Srinath © AFP
Sunil Gavaskar said Kapil Dev was the inspiration that drove the next generation of fast bowlers like Chetan Sharma and Javagal Srinath © AFP

Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has gone on record to say that Kapil Dev is the greatest match-winner the country ever had. In the past, the two legendary cricketers were rumoured to be not in best terms but Gavaskar quashed all rumours in a recent event when he dismissed them. Both the Indian legends are now commentators.

Gavaskar told NDTV, “Kapil Dev was India’s greatest match-winner because he won India matches both with the bat and all. Kapil, by sheer example, led others by the way he played and the flair he brought into the game; he showed other Indian fast bowlers the way ahead.”

He also said that the all-rounder was the inspiration that drove the next generation of fast bowlers like Chetan Sharma and Javagal Srinath. “All the bowlers who came after him, whether it was Chetan Sharma or Javagal Srinath, it was only because Kapil showed the way. It was because of him that we showed that we too could have fast bowlers because prior to him we never really had a tradition of good fast bowlers. So thanks to him we have developed this pool of fast bowlers today,” he added.

Over the years, India have seen great cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin among others but Gavaskar chose the prolific all-rounder because of his abilities with the bat and ball. Under Kapil’s leadership, India won their first World Cup, in 1983.

Gavaskar also mentioned that he is extremely happy with how Indian cricket has gone under the leadership of Kohli.

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