Virat Kohli doing well as captain, no pressure to win a World Cup, asserts Kapil Dev

Virat Kohli doing well as captain, no pressure to win a World Cup, asserts Kapil Dev

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India won the Wolrd Cup on this day in 1983

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India’s World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev has stated that there is no pressure on the current Indian side to win a World Cup as it is not the only marker of success. Dev further added that 1983 win made a big difference as parents started to understand the importance of sports in daily lives.

37 years since the greatest story of the sport played out at the Lord’s, Kapil Dev stands tall as the hallmark of astute and inspirational captaincy that has rubbed on many generations of cricketers afterward. MS Dhoni became the second Indian skipper to do an encore, which further put pressure of sorts on Virat Kohli, who is now powered by the number of solid cricketers churned out every year, but Kapil, while celebrating the 37 year anniversary of the event, felt otherwise.

"There is no pressure on the current Indian team, in my opinion, they are doing well, it's not like that you need to win a World Cup to be called a good team. Virat Kohli is doing well, Sourav Ganguly did well, how can we forget Sunil Gavaskar? He was a great captain too. Lifting the cup is not everything, how you shape up the team matters," Dev told ANI.

The 1983 World Cup win had a ripple effect on the whole fabric of Indian cricket, with the country hosting the subsequent edition while rising as a massive powerhouse of sorts in world cricket. Beyond that, many young kids were inspired to pick up the bat, with Sachin Tendulkar being the most renowned name on the list. Kapil attested to that by saying many parents started to understand the importance of the event post the country's triumph in 1983.

"I can say we were proud of our team, we made ourselves proud by winning the tournament, the World Cup win is a wonderful thing, because of that the entire nation celebrated. I think any big achievement affects the next generation, the 1983 win made a big difference, in our country, parents also started inculcating the value of sports, so it was a big thing. We have been producing doctors and engineers in large numbers as parents support that profession," he added.

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