The IPL is over and the men in blue are about to return to national duty, starting off against South Africa in New Delhi on 9th June. The selectors have rested Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, handing over the captaincy to KL Rahul. Senior bowlers like Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah too have been rested to give a chance to the youngsters like Umran Malik, who’ve had a stellar performance in the IPL. Legendary cricketers like Kapil Dev aren’t very happy with the Indian top-order though.
Rohit Sharma, along with Team India, is also the captain of Mumbai Indians, and it is needless to say that the five-time winner had one of the roughest seasons this year. The captain failed to lead from the front, and with Jofra Archer injured, the bowling attack of MI failed to be as effective. Same was the scenario with Virat Kohli, who handed over the captaincy of RCB to Faf Du Plessis at the beginning of the season. Although the RCB reached the playoffs, they were unable to qualify for the finals, mainly because of a poor batting display. Despite having the likes of Fag Du Plessis, Kohli himself, Glenn Maxwell, and Dinesh Karthik on board, RCB fans were disappointed with their batting performance. Virat Kohli, in particular, was severely criticized due to his below par performance.
In regards to these top-order Indian batsmen, Kapil Dev has had his say. Speaking on the YouTube channel “Uncut”, Kapil Dev opined that the senior batsmen need to sort out their priorities and return to their top games soon. He said that these are players who can score runs with a strike rate of 150-160, and their failure to score altogether when the team needs them the most shows an absolute failure from their side. Dev further added that these players have a reputation to maintain, and if they continue playing this way, the already immense pressure on them will only increase, which will restrict their free game.
Kapil Dev argued that players like KL Rahul are expected to play the full 20 overs and return with respectable scores, and if they can’t do the same, then maybe the management needs to find other players who are consistently able to do so.
