Legends Club Hall of Fame's latest inductee says his passion for the game of cricket drove him to perform for India and not awards or rewards
Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar
Former India skipper Kapil Dev and batting great Sunil Gavaskar share a joke during the induction ceremony of the Haryana Hurricane at CCI’s CK Nayudu Hall yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Kapil Dev, who led India to the a World Cup win in 1983, was inducted into the Legends Club Hall of Fame in the presence of fellow former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ajit Wadekar and Nari Contractor at the Cricket Club of India's (CCI) CK Nayudu Hall yesterday. Kapil was presented a citation by former India player and Legends Club president Madhav Apte while Gavaskar, who was already inducted in the Hall of Fame on July 10, 2013, but unavailable to attend the function then, was given a citation by Wadekar.
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Kapil at his best
Kapil enthralled the gathering with anecdotes from his playing days. Recalling an incident during his first New Zealand tour in 1980-81, the Haryana Hurricane thanked Gavaskar for giving him the opportunity to speak to the media despite his poor vocabulary and low confidence level. He also acknowledged how the Little Master made an impact on him. "There is nobody in this country who does not want to be Sunil Gavaskar. Sunil was best for the game. A lot of people will come, but this name (Sunil) will remain on top. We had a passion for the game and were not looking for rewards and awards. At that time we had so much of passion. With our success, if people get happiness, you feel proud about it. Now I feel cricket has changed and it feels so nice," said Kapil.
'An absolute honour'
Describing Kapil as the best all-rounder, Gavaskar said: "For me, it was an absolute honour to have played in the same team as Kapil. With due respect to all those wonderful players who have won matches for India over the years, nobody has turned things around with bat and ball like Kapil has. It has been hard work for him, it has not been easy. His enthusiasm was absolutely incredible. It was hard time for me as a captain to stop him," Gavaskar added.
Gavaskar made it clear that it was not him who was responsible for dropping Kapil for the Kolkata Test against England in 1984-85. "Who was that captain who was silly to leave out the only match-winner you have in your team? Whoever picked the team, I wasn't that idiot," he clarified.
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