Kapil Dev thanks daughter Amiya for Instagram debut; says it's important to change with the times

The former Indian captain shares how he went from being off social media to being on it and how his daughter helps him stay relevant.

As a fast bowler, Kapil Dev used to bowl a good line. Now he is also online.
At a promotional event in Mumbai recently, the former Indian captain said he was not a tech enthusiast initially. But his daughter Amiya, and the need to stay in tune with the times, made him think differently. “I started looking around, seeing people tweet and being on Instagram, I was not very enthusiastic about it,” said Dev, 60, looking like a dapper silver fox in a powder blue shirt and dark blazer. “[But] If you want to live in this world, you need to change with the times. Or you will be left behind.”

Amiya, the 1983 World Cup hero’s 23-year-old daughter, encouraged him to get up to speed with the plat forms and understand them better. “My daughter helped me as she is young and quite savvy with these things. I see her and have been inspired to keep up with the times,” Dev said.

It was only in 2015 that Dev opened a Twitter account. He got on Instagram this August. Dev made his debut for India in the late ’70s. At the time, he was not even aware of mineral water. “In my time, I had not seen mineral water nor any gadgets,” he said. “At that time if you got any water, it was enough. Now players don’t walk on the ground without mineral water. Ours was a different time. I have become more accepting now than before.”

Dev’s words are often a mix of humour and profundity. A sportsman’s real life, he said, changes dramatically after he retires. “The ball goes out of the window and life comes in [post-career],” he said. “Playing for the country, achieving my goal was a big thing. After you stop playing, it is how you make your life. When you are playing, you don’t know anything apart from that. Real life starts after that. That is when you start thinking, what can I make of my life.”