Former India captain and legendary all-rounder, Kapil Dev launched a scathing attack on Indian players for prioritising Indian Premier League (IPL) over international cricket as the injury list in the Men in Blue camp grows. Kapil lambasted Indian cricketers for playing in the cash-rich tournament with nagging injuries while skipping international cricket. Kapil's remarks came at a time when marquee Indian players Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer are currently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
"What happened to Bumrah? He started working with so much belief, but if he's not there (in World Cup semi-final/final)... we wasted time on him. Rishabh Pant... such a great cricketer. Had he been there, our Test cricket would've been better," Kapil said in an interview with The Week.
"God is kind, it's not as if I never got injured. But today, they are playing 10 months in a year. Give a benefit of doubt to that, but everybody has to look after themselves. IPL is a great thing but IPL can spoil you also. Because, a little bit of injuries and you will play in IPL. A little bit of injuries, you won't play for India. You would take a break. I'm being very open about it," the 1983 World Cup-winning captain said.
Throughout a calendar year, the Indian cricketers play a ton of cricket, especially if you included the two-month-long IPL. Kapil urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to manage the workload of players in a better way and also advised them to make a few tweaks to Team India's calendar.
"If you have a small injury, you would play in IPL if it's an important game. At this stage, cricket board has to understand how much cricket they should play. That is the bottomline. If today, you have resources, money, but you don't have three or five-year calendars. There's something wrong with cricket board there," Kapil said.
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