'I think it is very difficult to compare (M S Dhoni and Virat Kohli) because both have different teams and different attitude'
'If you do not win matches abroad, you cannot become number one in the world'
India’s limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a lot of experience and should continue to lead the side as long as he is good enough for the job, reckons Kapil Dev.
With Kohli doing extremely well as Test captain, there have been whispers from time to time that he should be handed over the captaincy of the limited overs as well.
But the 1983 World Cup-winning captain thinks otherwise.
"I think the answer people should look for is: ‘are we ready to ask Dhoni to take a back seat’? It is more important. I think if he is good enough he should carry on. When the time will come Dhoni may quit all three formats," Kapil said.
"But I think at the moment it is very important (sic) Dhoni is doing a good job. I think he has enough experience and he should continue."
Asked to compare Dhoni and Kohli as captains, Kapil said: "It is too early to answer that and again the two individuals are different and every individual is different. Kohli is very expressive, while Dhoni is calm and quite. I think it is very difficult to compare because both have different teams and different attitudes.
"Things have changed. Tomorrow you may ask can you compare these two with Sourav Ganguly as captain. So, every captain brings in his own input and aggression and motivation but it all depends on how you use these things with your team for best results. That is captaincy. It is not that you have to be aggressive and if you are not aggressive still you win the match, it is good enough," Kapil said.
The former swing bowler heaped praise on Indian seamers.
"It is not about 140 plus speed that Indian bowlers achieve but the line and length is very important. If you can bowl 135 speed and get movement that is good enough. But again, if you have pace, you always get advantage of that," Kapil said.
"These days the boys work on that. It is good to see that they have the pace. Bhuvneshwar, Ishant, Umesh, Shami all bowl that speed. Fast bowlers have improved a lot," he added.
India's fielding coach R Sridhar had said on Friday that the home team should have done better in close-in catching. However, Kapil gave a thumbs up to the overall fielding of the home team.
"I think, basically, Indian fielding has improved a lot since our time. But still one can understand that all the eleven fielders are not the same. They have two or three brilliant fielders in the side," he said.
"If the majority of the players in a side also improve then the fielding could become better. When you talk about fielding in a team, everyone has to be good enough."
Asked about India's performance abroad compared to their result at home, Kapil said: "Our record has certainly improved over the years. When we played on the England tour we were thrashed. Otherwise, we did well in the West Indies and Australia. We will see the future tours and tournament when we go there. At the moment, I think the improvement is there in our performances abroad.
"After all, if you do not win matches abroad, you cannot become number one in the world."
On day/night Test matches, Kapil said: "I think at the moment they are experimenting with first- class matches. I think traditional things should continue. We need to keep the tradition like Wimbledon is always played on grass. You do not play Test matches with coloured clothes."
Kapil also slammed the idea of a neutral venue for Ranji Trophy matches, terming it a "horrible" idea.
"Horrible. I do not approve of the idea. I would like to play Ranji match at my ground and playing with other team on a third team ground, there is no sense. This system should be done away with," he said.
