Former India cricketer Yograj Singh is once again hogging the headlines by taking a potshot at the legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, saying that he neither knows the World Cup-winning captain nor wishes to.
Yograj’s remark comes months after he had admitted in an interview that he once planned to kill Kapil after being left out from the Indian team in the 1980s.
Yograj, father of ex-India batter Yuvraj Singh, represented the country in just one Test and six ODIs before fading from the international scene.
“Who is Kapil Dev? I don't know him. Because he doesn't know me, I don't know him. So who am I? I don't know who he is. I know Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag – those who are doing so much for cricket. I can talk about them.
“Sir, I don't want to be friends with anyone, nor do I want anyone to be my friend. I have removed the word friend from my dictionary. This is all a fake program,” Yograj told IANS.
Even as his grudge with Kapil Dev continues to resurface, Yograj Singh has also extended broader messages for Indian cricket. “If you give to the nation, to the world—even if you go hungry yourself but feed someone else—then God opens treasures for you,” he said.
He suggested India's cricketing fraternity to invest in the game's future. “It shouldn't just be Kapil Dev. Every cricketer should take this responsibility. If each of them helps produce even a single player for India, then, by God's grace, the country will have so many great cricketers that in the coming years, no team will be able to defeat India,” he remarked.
At the same time, Yograj also turned his focus on India’s young stars. He was fill of praise for Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma, who put up a fiery opening stand of 105 runs against Pakistan in the Asia Cup Super 4 clash last Sunday.
“Let me tell you a very simple thing. The way Shubman Gill and Abhishek are playing, even if you have 250 runs, you will chase, but these two will have to play for 15 overs,” Yograj said.
“If Shubman and Abhishek play for 15 overs, then our target is 200 runs, and after that, you can score 300 or whatever. But I will only say one thing to Abhishek – and Yuvraj has also said it many times – try to play for 12 to 15 overs, that's all.”
(With IANS Inputs)
