It is needless to compare two generations of players and pass a judgement on who was better, legendary cricketer Kapil Dev said on Monday and refused to get into a debate if the national selectors were right in excluding Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant from the upcoming five-match T20I series against England.
Kapil bowled nearly 300 overs during the 1991-92 Test series against Australia and in the same series he became the first Indian to take 400 wickets in Tests apart from contributing with the bat in the team's cause.
India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah could not bowl in the second innings of the fifth Border-Gavaskar Test recently because of back spasms. India lost the five-match series 1-3. The 31-year-old Bumrah bowled more than 150 overs and emerged the highest wicket-taker on both sides with 32 scalps.
"Please don't compare. You cannot compare one generation with another. That is not required. Today, players are scoring 300 runs in a day. It didn't happen during our time. So don't compare the two (generations)," said Kapil during an event hosted by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) of which he is the president, in Delhi.
The 1983 World Cup-winning skipper also added that one should not question the judgement of the selectors as they
The two cricketers played all the five Tests during the recent series in Australia, with Jaiswal (391) emerging the second-highest run-getter for India, and overall he was second only to Travis Head (448).
Asked if it was the right decision to drop two for the home series, Kapil said, "How can I comment on the judgement of others? I think the selectors would have though about it."
"So, if I say something it would be criticising them. I don't want to criticise them. They (selectors) are a group of people who must have planned and thought about that."
With batting stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli dishing out below-par performances in Australia, and talks of whether it's time for them to retire swirling, Kapil said the decision should be left to them.
"They are very big players. Let's hope when they think it's the right time to play, when they think it's not, they will call it off," said Kapil, in response to a question whether the duo should be picked for the Test series in England later this year.
With Bumrah taking over the captaincy in the fifth and final Test against Australia in Sydney after Rohit dropped himself, there are talks on whether the fast bowler should take over the captaincy on a permanent basis.
When asked if Bumrah should be give a long stint as the captain to prove himself, 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil replied: "If he has been given the opportunity (to captain India in Tests), then give him some time also."
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