'Inside the Indian dressing room, it didn't matter where you were from' - Kapil Dev
Former Indian captain Kapil Dev recently opened up about the culture in the dressing room during his early days as a cricketer, and whether money and status were taken into consideration then.
In an exclusive interview with Indranil Basu and Shanivi Sadana on Sportskeeda's new 'Free Hit' show, the legendary 1983 World Cup-winning captain touched upon various topics close to his heart and his incredible cricketing career.
When asked if the economic background of a player held any weight in the dressing room, Kapil Dev said -
"I don’t think so. Most cricketers, they come from middle class or lower middle class. This is a pattern from the Rajas time. Maybe some people who come from a very influence and big family, but most cricketers come from a humble background. Inside the dressing room it did not matter where one came from."
He also spoke about cricketers starting business ventures after retirement, and stated that they use the platform they have as an ambassador of the sport to 'grow within the system'.
"I think we call our business, I won’t say that, we are trying to grow within the system. I was the captain of the Indian team when Chandu Borde was our manager, he was a bigger cricketer than anyone else."
He recounted a moving incident when someone of the stature of Chandu Borde had to wait to collect his match allowance.
"After the match got over in Bombay, I said 'Yes Chandu Bhai see you in the next Test match,' and he said 'Yeah I will go to Pune and I’ll see you two days before the next Test match'. He left and after two hours he was still there. He said 'No the secretary of the board is sleeping and if he gets up I will get my daily allowance and fees.'"
'What happened to him should not happen to me' - Kapil Dev
The former all-rounder then mentioned that this incident was like a turning point, and he soon realised that no player should be put in the same position as Borde. Kapil Dev said -
"I said, 'A player of his calibre has to wait for his allowance and I hope when I stop playing this situation should not come.' That’s a lead I got, I started working from that day onwards that I wanted to do something so that what happened to him should not happen to me. 1984 or 85 post the World Cup, I think when we played England."
Over the course of an incredible cricketing career spanning 16 years, Kapil Dev played 131 Tests and 225 ODIs for India, scoring almost 9,000 runs and picking up almost 700 wickets across the two formats. The 61-year-old has also served as the coach of the Indian cricket team.