For India stars, IPL comes before country: Kapil Dev

FORMER India captain Kapil Dev has lashed out at the country’s national cricketers saying they put the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) over national duty after the Men in Blue, who took part in the ongoing T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates as favourites, were eliminated in the first round.

The 62-year-old legendary all-rounder, who led India to their first World Cup win in 1983, told ABP News, “When the players prefer to play IPL over playing for the country, what can we say? I believe that every player should feel proud playing for their country.”

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“I believe that your national team should come first and after that franchise or any other team,” he added.

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Virat Kohli’s men crashed out of the marquee tournament on Sunday (7) after New Zealand thrashed Afghanistan to book a semi-final berth from Group 2. Pakistan are the other team to have qualified from the group. India’s chances of making the last four were greatly diminished after they lost to both Pakistan and New Zealand. They made a comeback by heavily beating Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia but it was too late.

“I am not saying don’t play cricket there (for franchises) but it is now BCCI’s responsibility to plan their cricket (schedule) better for the future,” the 62-year-old Dev said of the Indian cricket board.

“What we can learn from this defeat is to not repeat the mistakes that have been made. This is the biggest lesson.”

Dev, who felt Kohli should take responsibility for India’s poor show, slammed the captain after he conceded that India were not brave enough with either the bat or the ball after India’s defeat to the Kiwis.

India’s Hindustan Times daily reported after India’s premature exit from the tournament, “India's inability to hold their weight in knockout rounds of ICC events has been sticking out like a sore thumb. This time they have also missed the bus to reach the last four.” It said the team “failed to adapt and tweak their tactics according to the conditions”.

The world cup was Kohli’s final assignment as India’s T20 captain. It was also the final time that Ravi Shastri served as India’s head coach and he said at the end of India’s campaign that the players were mentally and physically jaded and didn’t even try.

The last time India failed to cross the preliminary stage in the World Cup was in the 50-over edition in the West Indies in 2007.