"Don't Keep So Much Hope": Kapil Dev's Straight Talk On India's Cricket World Cup Campaign

Excess hype often leads to broken hearts and hence it is always necessary to strike a balance, legendary Kapil Dev said on Tuesday in context of India's six-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia in the World Cup final earlier this month. The 1983 World Cup winning skipper said that the Indian fans should refrain from creating too much pressure and treat cricket just as another sport.

"Don't keep so much hope that people end up with broken hearts. We need to keep a balance. Other teams also came to India to compete in the World Cup. We shouldn't create so much hype. We need to look at sports as sports only. Whoever plays good on the day, we need to respect that. We are too emotional," Kapil said on the sidelines of the inaugural tee off ceremony of Kapil Dev Grant Thornton Invitational golf tournament in Gurugram.

India won 10 games, most of which were lopsided as contests, before Australia turned the tables on them at the Narendra Modi Stadium on November 19.

For past 10 years, India have lost seven knock-out games out of eight ICC tournaments that they took part between 2014 to 2023. Kapil doesn't know if the pressure of occasion gets to them.

"I think today's players can answer how much pressure they feel. We can only feel," he said.

However there are shortcomings which needs to be taken care of, Kapil stated, without specifying what they were.

"If they (India) win it feels really good. There are shortcomings which we need to address. It is not that you won't have shortcomings after a win. What's most important is to rectify them," the 63-year-old said.

He urged fans to celebrate what India achieved rather than what they missed out.

"They (India) won 10 matches in a row. Is it not enough? We should look at other