ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Pakistan Lack Maturity Unlike India and MS Dhoni, Says Kapil Dev
NDTV / PTI
Crediting India’s emphatic win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the World Cup to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s mature captaincy, cricket legend Kapil Dev on Sunday said the Indian skipper used his experience really well and was spot on with field placements.
“This Pakistan team lacks maturity but we seem to have that going for us. Especially, the captain. Dhoni played his role of skipper really well,” Kapil, who is part of the Hindi commentary team on Star Sports, told PTI from Mumbai.
“His field placements for attacking bowlers like (Mohammed) Shami and (Ravichandran) Ashwin were spot on. He seems to use his experience really well and it worked brilliant for India today,” he added.
If Virat Kohli’s 107-run knock propelled India to 300 for seven then Shikhar Dhawan (73) and Suresh Raina (74) also played their parts.
“India outplayed Pakistan in all departments today. Their great batting display was followed by a tight team bowling performance. Virat, from whom we now expect big innings every time he goes to bat, played well,” said Kapil.
Former skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes India were superior to Pakistan in every aspect of the game during their World Cup win in Adelaide but said they need to work more on their bowling and fielding before they take on title-contenders such as Australia and New Zealand.
“Australian have been in tremendous form and the way they played against England in the opening match is an indication as how confident they are, so they are the team to beat and also New Zealand,” Gavaskar told NDTV.
“But India again has to look at their bowling. While they have done well, there are areas where they need to tighten up a little bit and if they can do that they will be able to restrict the opposition. But overall it was a satisfying performance today. They were superior to Pakistan in every aspect of the game,” he said.
Talking about India’s fielding, Gavaskar said: “India has a very good fielding unit when they are not trying to be flamboyant, when they are not trying to just throw at stumps for no rhythm and reasons. So that’s an area where they have to look into because it can upset the bowler as at the end of the day it reflects on bowlers’ figures. Otherwise, India has a good fielding side.”
India defeated Pakistan by 76 runs at the Adelaide Oval in their World Cup opener to extend their unbeaten record against the arch-rivals to 6-0 in the quadrennial mega-event.
