Mumbai: Coming out in full support of the Board of Control for Cricket in India on the player burn-out issue, former Indian skipper Kapil Dev said that those who thought they were playing too much cricket should take a break.
"Cricketers are professionals and Indian cricketers are the only 100 per cent professional sportsmen in the country. They should take a break if they feel they are playing too much cricket," Kapil said.
"Don't want to play, then don't play," was what the 1983 World Cup winning captain said.
He felt the present Indian team was a very well balanced one and was well poised to not only erase the 35-year Test series victory drought in the West Indies but also come out with flying colours in the process.
"The Indian team is very well balanced and is doing very well. I expect them not only to win the series in the West Indies but to win it convincingly too. A victory overseas is always a beautiful thing," he said.
The erstwhile great all-rounder also said India needed Sachin Tendulkar, recuperating from a shoulder surgery, to come out firing all cylinders in the Test series in the Caribbean.
"We all want him to do very well at this time when he's struggling (with injuries). I want him to play and do very well in the West Indies," Kapil said.
Dhanraj, a four-time Olympian, also came out in support of Tendulkar and expressed hope that the champion batsman regains his fitness in time for the Test series in the West Indies.
"I am a great admirer of Sachin. His confidence level, aggression and match temperament are a treat to watch," he said.
Kapil also welcomed the move of the Indian cricket board to set aside Rs 50 crore for development of young and talented sports persons belonging to Olympic sports.
"It is a good gesture. It is good to see the BCCI taking interest in the development of sports other than cricket. You, in the media, who have made cricket and cricketers what it is, should also take a cue and give importance to other games", the 'Haryana Hurricane' said.
Kapil brushed aside criticism that the Indian hockey team is not delivering the goods and said its glory days were when the stick and ball game was played on natural turf and not on artificial turf as is the case at present.
"It's a shame that such a huge country like India has at best 12-15 astroturfs while a small nation like Holland has more than 200. It's no wonder our players struggle to play on those turfs at internatonal level after being denied the chance to hone their game on this surface at a young age," he said.
"There's no use saying we had won eight Olympic golds in hockey when the fact is they were won on grass. We need to lay out more artificial hockey turfs to encourage more players to come through," he said.
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