New Delhi, March 6 Legendary former captain Kapil Dev said on Friday that the Indian team management should retain Abhishek Sharma for the T20 World Cup final against New Zealand despite his lack of success in the high-profile tournament so far.
Abhishek has only scored one half-century, against the minnows Zimbabwe, in the mega-event, and is being seen as a potential weakness for India if he is retained for the summit clash on Sunday in Ahmedabad.
"Just believe in your team and the management should believe in the player. And Abhishek should believe in himself that 'I can perform and I will perform'. There is still one game – the final," Kapil said on the sidelines of a golf event here.
India defeated England by seven runs in a thrilling semi-final clash on Thursday night in Mumbai.
Despite posting a massive 253, the Indians were in a spot of bother due to the counter-attack launched by Jacob Bethell (105 off 48 balls) and Will Jacks (35 off 20 balls). Kapil said he did not expect the match to be this close.
"I didn't think that it would become this difficult, when India scores 250-plus, it was a brilliant game. Yes, India won, congratulations to them, but in the end it was cricket's win. I enjoyed it a lot, though not as a bowler," the pace great quipped.
Kapil was impressed with Indian spearhead Jasprit Bumrah's composure in the high-pressure game and said his death overs performance once again showed why he is considered the best in the world.
"Bumrah is the Number one bowler in the world, he is the best. Why is he the best? Because he delivers under pressure and the way he bowls. He deserves all the respect from everybody," he said.
Equally praiseworthy, in Kapil's view, was opener Sanju Samson's 42-ball 89 that became the foundation of India's massive score.
"He is a brilliant cricketer, a big player can go out of target sometime, what happened to Abhishek, but if they are big, they are big and they will come back. And Sanju really played wonderful cricket in the last two games," he said, referring to his 97 in the must-win Super Eight game against the West Indies earlier in the tournament.
