Anshuman Gaekwad reveals how he convinced Kapil Dev to take retirement call

Itrsquos tough for selectors to pick the right kind of cricketers to represent the national team But its probably even more difficult to drop a great cricketer because of a poor form mdash one who has served the country for several yearsFormer India captain Gundappa Viswanaths selection committee in the 1990s experienced the same tricky situation when legendary allrounder Kapil Dev was struggling for wickets towards the end of his international careerFormer India opener Anshuman Gaekwad 69 who was a national selector then revealed on Saturday how he convinced Kapil to take a final call on his career after his recordbreaking feat against Sri Lanka in 1994 when he became the highest wicket taker in world cricketAlso Read Neha Ranglanis new book aims to redefine ones relationship with dessertsKapil went past New Zealand pacer Richard Hadlees feat of 431 Test wickets when he dismissed Sri Lankarsquos Hashan Tillakaratne in the first innings of the Ahmedabad Test in February 1994ldquoYou canrsquot drop such a big player We allowed him Kapil to play the Test series against Sri Lanka and he broke the world record in the Ahmedabad Test We thought he would announce his retirement after breaking the record However that evening at the the press conference he said that hersquoll play for two more years Next day a seemingly hassled chief selector Viswanath Vishy told me lsquoSee the headlines Kapil is saying that he will play for two more yearsrsquo rdquo Gaekwad recalled at the Ageas Federal Life Insurance felicitation function where former India leftarm pacer Umesh Kulkarni and he were felicitated in Vile Parle MumbaiHowever Gaekwad who is now a BCCI Apex Council member explained how he managed to tell Kapil that the right time to call it a day was then Gaekwad said ldquoThat same evening there was a national selection committee meeting Jagmohan Dalmiya was the BCCI secretary So we sat and decided that it was time for Kapil to quit I suggested to Dalmiya that as a selection committee chairman and senior Vishy Viswanath should talk to him However Vishy insisted that I accompany him At tea time we approached Kapil in the dressing room Vishy wasnrsquot a forthright guy who would tell you that you were doing something wrong on your face He would go round and round while talking to someone So I took the initiative I told Kapil lsquoKaps we need to talk to you The selectors feel that you need to quit now and you also know it We will give you a farewell game as per your choice but yoursquove got to call it a dayrsquo Kapil reacted very nicely and said lsquoThank you very much I really appreciate what you told me One has to do these kind of things at times which I didrdquo Gaekwad revealedKapil went on to exit Test cricket after playing one more game a month later against Kiwis in Hamilton and ended up with 434 dismissals to his nameHe played his last ODI the same year against West Indies at FaridabadAlso Read SL name T20 World Cup 2022 squad injury concerns for Chameera Lahiru