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"More friends in golf than cricket": Kapil Dev gets candid about life after retirement

Akshita Patel

Kapil Dev compares cricket to golf [Source: @SportASmile/X.com]Kapil Dev compares cricket to golf [Source: @SportASmile/X.com]

India’s legendary World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev made a candid confession that he has more friends in golf than in cricket. The 1983 hero is now the President of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).

Kapil led India to its first-ever World Cup victory in 1983, becoming immortal in Indian cricket history. However, after retirement, he shifted his focus to golf, his second love.

Kapil Dev opens up on friendships in the cricket fraternity

Speaking at the NDTV Summit, Kapil Dev shared his honest reflections about life after retirement from cricket. He said he has made more friends while playing golf than he ever did while playing cricket.

"I played cricket for India for 15 years and now I also play golf. But I've made more friends in golf because I play with different people every week. If you go to England, Mumbai, or Kolkata, you meet new people there. In cricket, no one lets you come close. I regret that in cricket, I didn't make any friends other than my fellow cricketers. But I have made more friends in golf," he said.

The cricketing legend, who guided India to its first-ever World Cup victory in 1983, also shared a humorous anecdote about his former teammate and fellow legend Sunil Gavaskar. 

When Gavaskar denied to play golf with Dev

Kapil remembered inviting Gavaskar to go golfing with him, only to be rejected on a ludicrously "cricketing" pretext.

"One day I asked Sunil Gavaskar, I said, 'Come out, let's play golf, enjoy ourselves.' He said, 'You know, the problem with me is I love to make hundred.' In golf. It's not very good. So he said, 'That's why I don't play.' If you make a hundred in golf, you're a bad golfer. So he said, 'I'm a good cricketer. I learned to make hundred'," he added.

Kapil Dev also discussed how his approach to competition has changed over the years. Although known as one of India's toughest competitors, he revealed that golf has come to teach him to appreciate enjoyment rather than winning.

From leading India to glory at Lord’s in 1983 to now swinging golf clubs as PGTI President, Kapil Dev keeps inspiring new generations, proving that even legends can discover new arenas to play and new friends to win.