Team needs confidence boost to tide over present crisis:Kapil

Mumbai, Dec 5 (UNI) Former captain Kapil Dev today asked the fans and the media alike not to desert the Indian team at the moment of crisis and instead give them support to boost their confidence to tide over their bad phase.

The legendary all-rounder, who was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the launch of the Cricket Star reality TV show, admitted that the team was not playing well at the moment.

''The team is not playing well at the moment, but the neeed of the hour is to give them confidence. A couple of wins would see this team returning to their winning ways'', Kapil added.

Kapil, however, felt that playing in South Africa before the World Cup would benefit the team. ''In 1983, before the World Cup we played a tough series in the West Indies where we did not win many matches. But playing against a tough opponent helped us as it toughened us up and it resulted in our only World Cup triumph. The same thing can happen with this India team as South Africa is a very tough opponent and their bowlers among the best in the world.'' Speaking about the new reality TV show where the hunt for a new cricket star would take place, Kapil said it would help him in his role as the chairman of the National Cricket Academy.

''This contest would give me an opportunity to view talent at the grass root level, which otherwise I may not have been able to do.

It is like the cherry on the cake,'' Kapil said.

He also did not subscribe to the view that India has no talent.

''If we did not have talent we would not have produced players like Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble,'' he added.

Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja, who was also present on the occasion clarified his statements reportedly made on a TV show recently that the coach and captain of the Indian team should be changed following the team's debacle in South Africa.

Jadeja said what he had said was that the ideas being used for the last six months by the Indian team have not been working and therefore we need to change the decision making process which is not working at the moment and not that the captain and coach should be changed.

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