“What does he do to earn a living?”: When Kapil Dev’s in-laws weren’t impressed with his career as an Indian cricketer before marriage

The sport of Cricket had to be played for nearly a century-and-a-half for it to be considered as a lucrative career option. Come the present time, with the advent of multiple T20 leagues around the world, players have even began to treat it as just another profession involving attractive monetary contracts, and not just as a duty towards one’s country.

When the Kapil Dev-led Indian team lifted the World Cup in the year 1983, the squad members used to receive a sum of mere INR 1500 as match fees, coupled with a daily allowance of INR 200 per day! Thus, Kapil Dev and co. had received a paltry sum of INR 2,100 per match to become world champions.

Compare it with contemporary times, an Indian player can receive up to INR 15 Lakh for a Test match, INR 6 lakh and INR 3 Lakh for an International One-Day and a T20I match respectively.

Thus, when the legendary Kapil Dev wished to get married to the love of his life, the unattractive salary of his had acted as a road block for a brief period of time.

Kapil Dev’s in-laws weren’t impressed with his career as an Indian cricketer

During a radio show No Filter Neha hosted by actor Neha Dhupia, Kapil Dev had revealed how his wife Romi Bhatia’s grandfather could not believe that someone could earn a living by playing Cricket.

“Jab my father-in-law talked to his father ki ladki ke sath yeh ladka hai, kehte kya karta hai, kehte cricket khelta hai, who toh thik hai par karta kya hai? Who puche ja rahe hai, old man must be 90 years old (When my father-in-law told his own father that their girl has found a boy, he asked ‘what does the guy do?’ On being told that the guy plays cricket, he said that ‘it’s fine that he plays cricket’ but kept on asking, ‘what does he do for a living?),” remarked Kapil Dev.

During the interaction, the World Cup winning captain had also revealed how while travelling in a car, an Amul advertisement had helped him propose to his wife.