Individual ego shouldn't come in way of women's cricket development: Kapil Dev

Mumbai: A “disturbed” former captain Kapil Dev on Friday expressed his displeasure in the manner Committee of Administrators member Diana Edulji tried to stall WV Raman’s appointment as the coach of the Indian women’s team.

A committee headed by Kapil Dev along with Shantha Rangaswamy and Anshuman Gaekwad interviewed a host of candidates including World Cup winning India coach Gary Kirsten and Venkatesh Prasad before zeroing in on former opener Raman.

Edulji has repeatedly questioned the process of appointment, calling it illegal as it did not have her approval, and also tried to stall Raman’s appointment letter before it got approval from COA chief Vinod Rai.

“I am very disturbed about what all is happening. I don’t want to take names but ego of one particular individual shouldn’t be an impediment towards developing the women’s game in the country. Someone might have his or her personal likes or dislikes but that is not above the interest of the national women’s team,” the 1983 World Cup winning captain told PTI without taking Edulji’s name.

However, it was understood that Kapil was disappointed at Edulji’s stand on the issue. The owner of 434 Test wickets said that it was a “very positive” sign that big names wanted to work with the women’s team.

“Look at the names who applied. Gary Kirsten, who coached India to World Cup. Venkatesh Prasad, who was Indian men’s team bowling coach. Raman has earned respect from everyone with his technical knowledge. If anyone has problem with these names, then he/she doesn’t have best interest of Indian cricket in mind,” said Kapil.

Kapil feels that the likes of Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur have raised the profile of the game to such a level that even people like him want to contribute to the cause. “Just tell me where was women’s cricket at least 10 years back. Who raised the profile? It’s the players like Mithali and Harman. They have raised it to such a level that even someone like me, who didn’t keep a track of what was happening a decade back, wanted to contribute,” Kapil said.

“Tell me one thing. Myself, Anshu and Shantha, we all have other commitments also. When we were approached, we agreed because all of us thought that we would be able to make a difference. Is it a fair thing to rake up controversy and derail the development that has happened over the years?” he questioned.