As a country whose lifeblood is cricket, India has had a long list of cricketers who have made the country proud. The pantheon is too big and too glittered – such is the immensity of quality, that cricketers in the country seem to suffer daily from ‘good’ not being good enough. In the long list, many stand out; from the master blaster on the West coast to ‘dada’ in the East. However, among these stalwarts, few have had a legacy as enduring in the public imagination as Kapil Dev. The 1983 World Cup winner dons a different attire now – that of a golfer’s.
Dev, currently the president of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), was in the city to inaugurate the Kapil Dev Grant Thornton Invitational (KDGTI) tournament. The legendary all-rounder, who is all in on this new chapter, seems to have little room for anything besides his current, enthused preoccupation. “The past is gone, you have to move on. Today is the most important day and we should want to grow from here, strand by strand. You don’t have to talk about your success, what you did in your younger days. That’s the way I live my life,” he remarks. Interestingly, the KDGTI is the first Indian tournament of its kind to have men and women compete jointly, establishing a landmark moment for the sport in the country. Dev cannot help but point out the very special circumstances of the sport that allows such a format, it being an inclusive system for most ages and body types. As he says, “This is the first time we are doing something like this.
We have a few mind sports where people [of various genders] come out and play. But as far as physical sports are concerned, this is the only game in this world where men and women can compete from the same point.” Dev, who knows all too well the importance of self-motivation, continues, “Beyond each other, on the course, you are playing against yourself – playing against the course; and that’s the beauty of this game.”
Coming from a different, distant generation, Dev enjoys a great contextual vantage point from which to survey the growth of the culture of sports in India. While it may seem like every second parent centres their child’s life around academics, things were indubitably worse. Dev, who was amongst the ones more fortunate, recalls, “Those times were different. I come from a joint family; my parents didn’t have much time. We were seven brothers and sisters who looked after each other. My parents only said one thing, ‘Baba, if you can’t study, go and play, become something.’ I think the challenges in India today are different.”
When asked about the parallels to his successes in the two fields, Dev is succinct, focusing on the psychological aspect. “Commitment, dedication and discipline. Doesn’t matter what you do, that is the mantra of life. You have to be committed to the cause. Rest, you leave it to the almighty,” he asserts. When it comes to golf’s inaccessibility as a sport to the middle class, he is more hopeful than not. “Cricket was once inaccessible too, and only the royalty were able to play. Today, everybody is playing. It is the same thing with golf. Give it 10 years’ time, every city will have a golf course,” Dev concludes with confidence.