Legendary Indian cricketer Kapil Dev has advised cricketers across the globe not to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) if they feel pressurized.
As per the former Indian captain, ‘pressure’ and ‘depression’ are American words. The former all-rounder stated that a player shouldn’t feel any pressure if the individual has the passion to play the game.
“I hear a lot of times on television that there’s a lot of pressure on IPL players. Then I have only one thing to say-don’t play,” said Kapil during an educational event.
“If a player has passion, then there will be no pressure. I can’t understand these American words, like ‘pressure’ and ‘depression’. I come from a farming background, we played cricket because we enjoyed the game,” added the World Cup-winning captain.
Kapil urged students to convert pressure into pleasure by stating that pressure is a wrong word.
Kapil’s statement evoked mixed reactions among the Twitter users. While some felt, Kapil was just being practical, others opined that the former captain was making a mockery of mental health struggles faced by several people.
“Disappointing from Kapil Dev. So out of touch with reality. What’s more worrying is the laughs and applause that follow,” wrote a user.
“Whatever he said is correct. There is no passion in current generation towards game. They have treated this as profession, if you are doing something which is your passion, you will not feel any pressure or insecurity, commented another user.