Fairways and willow ways

Cricket legend Kapil Dev wears multiple hats with relative ease Just like he did while hitting sixes out of the park But even the most attacking of batsmen have to take guard and in June 2024 the 1983 World Cupwinning captain took guard to become the president of the Professional Golf Tour of India PGTIUnder his leadership the PGTI has gotten bigger better and more financially healthy mdash more tournaments more prize money Kapil has ensured India is on the golf map of one of the worldrsquos biggest tours DP World Tour He has done something which no other golf tour has done by introducing an IPL style franchisebased tournament called 72 The League which is one season old Sponsors are showing interest and players are excitedOn Friday Kapil spoke to Sunday midday on golf and cricket at his Central Delhi officeExcerpts from the chatWhat have been the challenges that you faced since you took over as PGTI chiefI wouldnrsquot say it was a challenge The game is growing I had to make sure the players and money for professional golfers increased and that was the main idea nothing more than that I would like to thank you the peopleNot one person I approached didnrsquot come forward Everybody without blinking an eye helped PGTI which was a surprise for me also Itrsquos give and take but I wasnrsquot asking for myself I was asking for the players and I was very very delighted I have no words to express my gratitude to all the people who stood by me when I took this responsibilityKapil DevDid you have to convince people to put more money into golf and sponsorcreate more eventsLook this is not my game My game was cricket and my thought was how to bring more matches and tournaments for them and get more money Initially players felt we should play more tournaments Now things are changing They say up the prize money instead of increasing the tournaments which makes sense because bigger prize money means a lot of people from abroad will start coming in We experienced teething problems in the first year After that we got a good group of people who were ready to help and guide you PGTI is a player body Irsquom the only one who doesnrsquot take a fee The rest everybody works as professionalsHow do you manage time for golfI now play less golf which is my passion But if you are taking responsibility for young kids that doesnrsquot really bother me because you get a thrill when a new sponsor comes or a new tournament comes around You feel very happy about that I want to spend more time on the golf course too I play only because I can exercise I still try to play on the weekendAs president of PGTI where is Indian golf right nowAwareness is more important than anything else today The awareness of a golf circuit has increased because yoursquove got the likes of Rory McIlroy the Ryder Cup winning players etc coming to India People want to see golf Fans want a chance to see golfers which they would never do otherwiseYou have the Shashi Ruia Memorial Golf championship coming up in Mumbai But why arenrsquot more events being held in MumbaiAll over the world golf tournaments take place in financial cities which have the presence of big corporates We donrsquot have so many golf courses Mumbai has Willingdon Chembur and therersquos a new course coming up International standard courses are in Delhi Kolkata Ahmedabad while Mumbai still hasnrsquot got one of that standard Mumbai is going to be very importantOn this very day in 1975 you made your Ranji Trophy debut for Haryana versus Punjab at Rohtak where you got a 6wicket haul What do you remember of this dayYou donrsquot have much on your mind as a 17yearold Playing the match was a great feeling You play for your own state you see your senior cricketers whom you look up to I bowled 10 no balls in that matchAlso on this very day in 1978 you scored your first halfcentury in Test cricket mdash 59 mdash against a Pakistan pace attack of Imran Khan Sarfraz Nawaz and Sikander BakhthellipI was a tailender batting at No 9 Itrsquos a beautiful memory I was ready to take up the challenge against some hostile bowling They would tell us not to hook Sunil Gavaskar could leave the ball GR Vishwanath could leave but a person like me couldnrsquot I felt if there is a delivery to be hit you have to hit it I was in a different zone Today it is totally different Now they say if you leave the ball you are not going to be a good playerWhat are your thoughts on 15yearold Vaibhav SooryavanshiHe still has a long way to go Though hersquos part of the Indian team he doesnrsquot get enough chances I think itrsquos the action Everybody likes action now and anybody as young as Sooryavanshi hitting fours and sixes is what old people and young people love to see He needs more time There is no shortage of talent At the age of 15 he has only cricket to think about When he reaches 1819 other things will emerge parties and other distractions Will he be like Sachin Tendulkar or Vinod Kambli Itrsquos very difficult to say at this stage He should just focus on cricket and nothing else At this stage they talk about money too Huge talent but I think he has to goa long wayMohd Shami recently announced his retirement from Test cricket Your thoughtsHe shouldnrsquot have retired from Test cricket He should have waited I think Virat Kohli made the biggest mistake He retired from Test cricket Where Shami is concerned you just have to work hard If you can get two more years of Test cricket why not This opportunity will never come backBut Shami was not being pickedhellipThey canrsquot pick you if you retire but if you are playing you still have an option Bhuvneshwar Kumar can come out after four years so why not Yes today I can understand they have so much other cricket to play if they retire like T20 leagues but I think Test cricket is the best cricket even with Kohli He Kohli will regret his decision after 10 years He should have not retired Kohli has fitness on his side and his fitness is far better than any other player He can challenge even a 25yearold cricketer on fitness Getting angry and retiring is not right They should be like Mohinder Amarnath He was dropped so many times but he came back and proved others wrongYour thoughts on Shubman Gill the captainHersquos calm He knows what hersquos doing and I thought he showed more maturity over a periodof time like no other contemporary playerThe BCCI wants Rohit Sharma to continue playing ODI cricketIf he can play fine I would leave it to the selectors If they take a call his time is over Itrsquos entirely up to the selectors because they are thinking collectively about whatrsquos best for the game Rohit has served the country admirably and hersquos not going to be there throughout his life Sunil Gavaskar Sachin Tendulkar Anil Kumble R Ashwin MS Dhoni mdash all gone and you have to go one day