‘Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma need to’ -Kapil Dev’s Advice For Indian players

New Delhi: Former captain Kapil Dev has some advice for Indian players ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup. The Indian cricket team has a good mix of youth and experience in their lineup and Kapil Dev believes that senior players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and K.L Rahul need to decide their roles.

He said that the current Indian players need to change their approach in the shortest format of the game and get ready for the World Cup, starting in October-November in Australia.

“Reputation is quite big and maybe, the pressure is too much but that shouldn’t be the case. You have to play fearless cricket. All these players (Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and K.L Rahul) can play at a 150-160 strike rate. They are such big players, but when the time comes to score runs, they all get out,” Kapil Dev said on the Uncut YouTube channel.

He stated, “If you talk about K.L Rahul, you need to talk to him about playing 20 overs and if he scores 80-90, then it is good enough. But if you play 20 overs, and you are coming back 60 not out then you are not doing justice to the team.”

Kapil Dev further added, “I think the approach needs to change, if it doesn’t, then you would have to change the players. If they are big players, then they need to have a big impact on the team. You are not big just because of the name, but need to be big on performances. If you are a big name, then you should play cricket like that. Otherwise, we are here to talk about it.”

India will begin the five-match T20I series against South Africa on June 9 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Stand-in captain K.L Rahul will lead the team during the series in the absence of Rohit Sharma.