I said, what I felt right about Tendulkar: Kapil Dev

These are not necessarily good times if you are a certain MS Dhoni. If his waning abilities with the bat weren't enough, Captain Cool's captaincy is also facing the heat with back-to-back ODI series losses to Bangladesh and South Africa. Club the T20I series loss against the Proteas between the two, and that's a sandwich even Dhoni's most ardent fans would find hard to digest.

The string of defeats has only given more strength to voices asking for Dhoni's ouster as captain in the shorter formats of the game. With Virat Kohli leading India to a historic Test series victory in Sri Lanka a couple of months ago, many experts reckon it's time for the Delhiwallah to take over the mantle in all formats of the game.

But Dhoni found a strong supporter in Kapil Dev. In his unique style, the 1983 World Cup-winning captain spoke his mind whether Kohli is ready to take away the two hats from Dhoni.
"Baap ko baap rehne do, aur bete ko beta (Let father be the father, and son the son)," Dev said during the launch of the Wonder Cement Saath:7 Cricket Mahotsav here on Tuesday. "One day the son will become the father.

But whoever is the father today, let him be that. Don't compare him with the son."
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell you who's the father and the son here.

Not only Dhoni, the former Indian all-rounder also firmly backed team director Ravi Shastri, who has been accused of abusing the Wankhede head curator Sudhir Naik for producing a flat wicket for the series-deciding fifth ODI in Mumbai, which India lost by a whopping 214 runs.

"I think I am with Ravi Shastri on this subject," Dev said. "If you are playing in your country, and you make a pitch that doesn't give an advantage to your bowlers, then it is wrong. You have a series which is squared at 2-2, and then you make a pitch to the liking of the visitors.

"If you're welcoming them with open arms, treating them like esteemed guests, then it is your call. But if you don't make a pitch that will suit your main bowlers, then it will hurt. It hurt me too. Ravi Shastri got hurt a lot. We should make a pitch to our advantage. When we travel to South Africa, they don't produce pitches that help India, do they?" Dev added.

In fact, he went as far as to say that if India continue to dish out pitches in favour of the Proteas – anything other than turners — in the four-match Test series starting in Mohali on Thursday, it will be very difficult for the hosts to arrest their losing slide even in white flannels.

"I don't think there's much of a difference between the two teams. It all depends on the kind of pitches we make. If we make pitches of their liking, I think it will be very tough for the Indian team to win (the Test series). But if the groundsmen and the team management work together and make the pitches according to the Indians — because we are dominated by spinners — there will be more chances for us to win. But I hope India play better cricket," Dev said.

The legend, who was one of the rare Indian bowlers who could swing the ball at good pace, defended the current bunch of pacers, saying they need to be given a bit more time.

"These are the same set of bowlers who did so well at the 2015 World Cup. We can't start abusing them just because they went through one bad series. We need to show a bit more patience. I agree they didn't bowl well, and they were rightly criticised. But if we had won the same matches, then I wouldn't be sitting here answering this question. I think they played below their potential and ability," he said.

And as for the country's never-ending search for a quality all-rounder, India's greatest of that particular breed had this to say: "Where were there many before, anyway? You can't produce a Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag or Sachin Tendulkar every day. It takes time. But I hope with the kind of cricket that is being played nowadays, India can find more all-rounders," he said.

'About Tendulkar, I spoke whatever I felt was right'
Kapil Dev created quite a stir a few days ago by making some negative statements about Sachin Tendulkar, saying he did not do justice to his talent and was merely there just to get his hundreds. Why, he even took a dig at Mumbai cricket. Dev then claimed that those statements were actually a compliment to the maestro, terming the entire controversy as 'needless'. On Tuesday, after straight-batting a string of questions on the topic, Dev finally spoke up, albeit just. "Don't I have a personal right to give my opinion? You can't take that right away from me. You can write the way you want, but I spoke whatever I felt was right," he said.

One Test won't make Viru any less a player
Kapil Dev said Virender Sehwag's disappointment at not getting a farewell game was unnecessary. "It doesn't work like that," he said. "It's up to the selectors. Tomorrow one more person will get up and say that even I want a farewell game. This trend will then go on and on. He had so many opportunities. He played so many years for India. Not everything in life happens the way you want. Yes, we all would've loved to see Virender Sehwag play one more time for India, but if that didn't happen, he should be happy. That one Test match would not have made him any greater or lesser of a player."