India can emerge as world champions if players play to potential: Kapil Dev

DUBAI - Kapil Dev, the man who lifted the World Cup for India in 1983 believes that India has the strongest batting line up in the world, and has the potential to lift this year’s World Cup being played in the Indian subcontinent.

Answering a query from Gulf News on whether India has a balanced team, Dev said: “The Indian team for the World Cup is the strongest batting line-up we have ever seen in world cricket. It looks a balanced team though the bowling is a bit weak. So if they can play to their abilities they can emerge world champions.”

Dev was in Dubai to announce the live coverage of ICC World Cup through Channel 2 Group’s Cricket Radio.

When asked whether Dhoni can emulate what he did in 1983 by lifting the World Cup, Dev said: “Dhoni should do better than me. He is a very fine cricketer, a fantastic captain and I hope he can achieve everything he wanted.”

Dev refused to name anyone as the dark horse of the tournament. “I don’t think there are any dark horses this time. Three to four teams have an edge over others. England has come up with a very good team. I’ve always had a lot of faith in Sri Lanka and Australia is not the same team they used to be. South Africa has showed they have bowlers who can run through any side. Pakistan is the most unpredictable team. You can never say what they can do. They can upset anybody on their day.”

He also said that playing in front of the home crowd would be both an advantage as well as a disadvantage for the Indian team. (ANI)