Kapil supports Harbhajan's exclusion from ODI squad

Former India captain Kapil Dev on Thursday backed the selectors' decision to drop senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh from the squad for the first two ODIs against England next month.

"From the point of view of country's interest, nothing is surprising. If they have dropped him, it must be for the betterment of the team," the legendary all-rounder said at the Dilip Sardesai Memorial lecture.

"You do get hurt if a spinner of the calibre of Harbhajan is dropped. But if his exclusion is beneficial for the team, then I'm happy. I'm not going to say anything against the selectors."

Kapil also supported the move to include young leg-spinner Rahul Sharma in the side on the basis of his performance in the fourth season of the IPL.

"IPL is also a part of the country's cricket. Why think of it any other way? IPL/ICL is the way through which we get our cricketers. Without IPL, we wouldn't have got players like the Pathans (Yusuf and Irfan)," he added.

To a query, he said there was nothing like "senior players" and only performances should be taken into account while selecting a team.