Former India captain Kapil Dev on Tuesday said that Indian batting’s mainstay Virat Kohli will rewrite more records than anyone else in world cricket and believed the Delhi batsman has realistic chances of “bettering” even Sachin Tendulkar’s career graph if he remains injury-free.
“Without any doubt Kohli will make more records than anybody else. I don’t compare, there cannot be a second Don Bradman, and there cannot be another Tendulkar. But yes, Kohli has got amazing talent, it’s huge for a 24-year-old, and maybe, he can be better than Tendulkar. The next generation has to be better than the previous one,” Kapil said here.
Kapil, 55, is here as one of the ambassadors for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.
Talking about Kohli, he further said, “Virat has so far shown that he has more ability and talent than anybody else and if he can play till 32 or 34 with the same fitness and without injuries, he will come to a point where not even Vivian Richards or Tendulkar had such a record.”
Kapil said a team could not expect one individual to carry the entire responsibility on his shoulders forever.
“I don’t look at it that way because he has done his job, you don’t expect Bradman to play for 100 years or Sachin to carry on forever. For 24 years he has served his country so well, he did everything a cricketer should do but you have to move on in life and sooner the team realises that the better. If you start talking about him all the time the team is not going to be settled.”
According to the 1983 World Cup winning captain, taking the IPL to UAE could help the Gulf nation get rid of the “fixing” tag.
“If we can promote the game in different parts of the world there is nothing wrong in it. With the IPL, I hope the tag that UAE has will be removed. I think the people there love the game. I am very happy that cricket has gone back to the Gulf. Let’s hope it brings a better name.”
