Dubai: Kapil Dev, the man who lifted the World Cup for India in 1983 believes that India has the strongest batting line up in the world.
Answering a query from Gulf News on whether India has a balanced team, Dev said: "The Indian team for the World Cup is the strongest batting line-up we have ever seen in world cricket. It looks a balanced team though the bowling is a bit weak. So if they can play to their abilities they can emerge world champions."
Dev is here to announce the live coverage of ICC World Cup through Channel 2 Group's Cricket Radio.
When asked whether Dhoni can emulate what he did in 1983 by lifting the World Cup, Dev said: "Dhoni should do better than me. He is a very fine cricketer, a fantastic captain and I hope he can achieve everything he wanted."
Dev refused to name anyone as the dark horse of the tournament. "I don't think there are any dark horses this time. Three to four teams have an edge over others. England has come up with a very good team. I've always had a lot of faith in Sri Lanka and Australia is not the same team they used to be. South Africa has showed they have bowlers who can run through any side. Pakistan is the most unpredictable team. You can never say what they can do. They can upset anybody on their day."
Will playing in front of the home crowd put pressure on the Indian team or will it be an advantage?
"It can be advantageous at the same time put pressure on the team. The advantage is that everyone knows the conditions very well. The pressure will be from the media. In India, the media puts a lot of pressure today. The team's success will depend on how they can keep off such pressures."
Though Dev is one who realised the dreams of millions of Indians by winning the World Cup, the team hasn't approached him for a pep talk.
"I don't talk to them unless they want me to talk. It is not correct for people like me to go out and start talking. If they need anything then former cricketers like me, we will be ready to help. I think at this stage they are sensible and intelligent and are doing a great job."
Has the series against South Africa just before the World Cup done more harm than good as it resulted in a few Indian cricketers getting injured?
"Now it's too late to talk about it. They should have thought about it before agreeing for the tour. I only hope that the series against South Africa was beneficial to the Indian team. I don't like to talk about the negatives. So let us take the positives from the tour like Yousuf Pathan doing extremely well and some bowlers too emerging successful from the series. We did not have our main players but still we did extremely well," he said.
ICC brand ambassador: Tendulkar right choice
Kapil Dev applauded the International Cricket Council on selecting Sachin Tendulkar as the brand ambassador for the World Cup. "I am thankful to ICC for naming Tendulkar as the brand ambassador of the World Cup. I am happy they did not pick any film star, singer or a politician to be their brand ambassador. It is a very great feeling to see your colleague as the brand ambassador for a game which is so fantastic," he said.
"I genuinely feel that the game should be promoted by the cricketers who played the game. I am deeply touched by the gesture and I am sure we could not have got a better person than Tendulkar as the Ambassador. Everyone has to be proud of this man not because of his performance but by the way he has played the game for over 20 years. He is truly the greatest sportsman of the era," he added.
