Former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev is not impressed with Virat Kohli’s ‘we were not brave enough’ comment following India’s eight-wicket defeat to New Zealand in their Super 12 stage match on Sunday.
Reflecting on his side’s second consecutive defeat in the ongoing T20 World Cup, Kohli admitted that they didn’t play in the way they are used to playing, which didn’t go down well with Dev.
“For a big player like him, it is a very weak statement. If that is the kind of body language the team has and if that is the kind of thought process the captain has, it is really tough to lift the team. I felt a little strange hearing those words. He isn’t that kind of a player,” Dev said on ABP News.
“He is a fighter. I think he got lost in the moment or something. A captain should not say words like ‘we were not brave enough. You are playing for your country and he has passion. But when you say such words, fingers will definitely be pointed,” the World Cup winning captain added.
Talking about India’s poor show in the first two games, Dev said that no amount of criticism would be enough for a shoddy performance such as the one dished out by Kohli & Co. on Sunday evening.
“I don’t have words. How much can we even criticise? A team that claims to have played the IPL and gain practice, when it plays like this, there will be criticism. When you win, no amount of praise is enough, but right now, no amount of criticism is enough because they did not play the kind of cricket expected of them. You fight and lose, we understand. But there was not a single performance which we can be happy about,” Dev added further.
