Kolkata: Former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia Thursday threw his weight behind former cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is currently facing the ire of fans for his waning finishing ability with the bat.
“I think he has been brilliant. People have been giving stick to him right now as they are just trying to find a scapegoat out of somebody. But if you look at this World Cup, I think he has done pretty well,” Bhutia said.
The 42-year-old also felt the ongoing cricket World Cup is lacking in global appeal, going to the extent of terming it a ‘South Asia Cup’ despite the fact that Australia and England are among the semifinalists.
The quadrennial showpiece in the United Kingdom is made of five teams belonging to Asia with India being the only sub-continent side to seal a semifinal spot.
“I’m finding this World Cup completely ‘South Asia Cup’… It’s like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India only. Another 10 years, you will only see Asian teams with Bhutan and Nepal also qualifying,” Bhutia said at the Football Players’ Association of India’s building here.
Bhutia also made a sarcastic comment on the standard of competition and said India could still make the semifinals if they send their second or third rung teams.
“If we send another three more teams, they will still make the semifinals. India should easily win the World Cup. The ‘world’ feel is missing from the World Cup. You need the flavour of the ‘world’ thing. There’s only one country from Europe, one team from Africa, earlier there used to be Zimbabwe.
“Looking at West Indies, it seems they would stop playing cricket in a few years time. For South Africa, it seems the younger generation has stopped playing cricket. Basketball and football are getting more prominence.”