Former Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev visited Gujarat’s Khambhaliya in Jamnagar district early this week to grace the occasion of prize giving ceremony of local cricket tournament, organized by Late Shri Hematbhai Rambhai Madam memorial trust’s Punamben Madam.

At Fot village ground, the atmosphere was jubilant in presence of 25,000 cricket fans gathered to have a glimpse of their cricket hero Kapil Dev who was India’s first world cup winner captain in 1980s.

Gujarat Cricket Association’s Vice President, Rajya Sabha MP and Group President of RIL Shri Parimal Nathwani was also present on this occasion. Nathwani in his speech narrated how the region of Saurashtra contributed to the Indian cricket historically.

During brief interaction with local media, Kapil Dev said each sportsman should have spirit to play for the nation, and other things should come after that.

Stressing need to encourage other sports also in India, Kapil Dev said, “The media has highlighted the game of cricket too much, and thanks to the media, the game has become popular beyond our imagination. This has created a situation that all children want to play cricket. However not everyone is happy with this. There is concern that some attention should be given to other sports also.”

It should be mentioned that 21-night long local cricket cup at Khambhaliya had also an attraction of Sidi Badshah’s traditional dances. While in IPL matches, we see least dressed cheer girls dancing on the corners of the ground during

the match, here in this tournament of Jamnagar, the organizers had invited poor local traditional Sidi badshah dancers to dance ‘Dhamal’ during the match.