Kapil says Kohli's "not brave enough" statement is weak; urges Dhoni, Shastri to lift team morale
New Delhi, Nov 1: The legendary Kapil Dev feels Virat Kohli's admission of his team not being brave enough in the T20 World Cup loss to New Zealand is a "very weak statement" and head coach Ravi Shastri along with mentor Mahendra Singh Dhoni should step up to lift the players' morale.
India lost by eight wickets to the Black Caps in Dubai on Sunday night, severely jeopardising their chances of making the semifinals. The 62-year-old former captain said the big names will have to take responsibility for what is transpiring in the UAE.
"Obviously, it's a very weak statement from a player as big as Virat Kohli. We all know and we believe that he has the hunger and desire to win games for the team," he told 'ABP News'.
"But, if the body language of the team and thought process of the captain is like this, it's very difficult to lift the mood of the players inside the dressing room," he added referring to Kohli's statement that his teammates were not brave enough with the bat, ball or in their body language.
"I would urge my friend Shastri and Dhoni to lift the team in this scenario, it is Dhoni's job to talk to players and give them confidence," he added.
India now need to win big in all their remaining three group stage matches and hope for Afghanistan to upstage New Zealand for any chance of qualification.
Kapil said depending on other results is never a great situation to be in.
"If we have to go through based on somebody else's performance, then I don't like it. If you have to be in the semis, do it on your own merit. I don't think it is a good idea to place your hopes on anyone else," he said.
"...jab aap accha karte ho hum sab tareef karte hain. (But) some of the big names, the selectors will now have to take a hard look at them, whether the better performing youngsters should be considered. These big guys, if they don't make runs, they will face criticism," he said but did not take any names.
Winless so far, India will take on Afghanistan in their third group engagement on Wednesday.
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India should create strategic buffers to navigate 'most difficult' energy shock: CEA Nageswaran
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Saturday said India needs to create strategic buffers in the face of the "most difficult" energy shock that the country is facing amid the West Asia crisis.
Nageswaran also said the rising prices of fertiliser and petroleum products globally due to the crisis will make it challenging to achieve the 4.3 per cent fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal, while below normal monsoon and pass-through of higher energy prices could lead to "potential inflation spike".
He also said India has employment challenge emanating from AI, and there is a need to ensure that IT sector becomes more competitive and not lose jobs to AI, and instead create jobs that use AI within the IT sector or in other services.
Speaking at the ICPP Growth Conference organised by the Ashoka University, Nageswaran said the current account deficit (CAD) in the current fiscal could rise to over 2 per cent of GDP, from less than 1 per cent in FY'26.
"The ... priority for us is to create strategic buffers. This energy shock is the most difficult one compared to any other previous energy shock in terms of energy lost as a percentage of total global energy supply, not just oil, including gas.
"And we also need to use this occasion to think about other areas where we are vulnerable in terms of import dependence, nickel, tin, and copper. We need to build strategic buffers if we have to make a shot at manufacturing and becoming indispensable," Nageswaran said.
Since the beginning of the war in West Asia on February 28, crude oil prices soared to a four-year high of USD 126 per barrel on Thursday, from about USD 73 level before the war.
Stating that geopolitics will compel policymakers to be nimble and flexible and shed old model of thinking, Nageswaran said India is better prepared than many other countries to deal with the crisis because of the fiscal leeway that the country has due to lowering of fiscal deficit ratio to 4.4 per cent of GDP in FY'26.
Nageswaran said the West Asia conflict is more of a price shock than supply shock for India as the government is managing the supply side deftly.
"This particular conflict, which is going to be on a low simmer or a high flame situation, whatever it is, it is going to be there with us in some form or the other because the military conflict may be over, but the strategic conflict is well and truly alive. It will be so for some time," Nageswaran said.
He said the conflict has four channels of shock: price and supply shock, trade impact, sticky logistics costs and remittance shock.
India imports 60 per cent of its LPG usage and of that, 90 per cent flows through the now closed Strait of Hormuz.
Nageswaran said the pass-through of high global energy prices would have to be a "balancing act". He said some pass-through is already happening in commercial LPG, and the levy of export duty on diesel and ATF.
The government has cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to shield customers from the impact of the rise in petroleum prices. "We are coming around to arriving at a certain modus vivendi with respect to burden-sharing between the fiscal policy side, inflation, households and the oil marketing companies. So it has to be a balancing act," Nageswaran said.
