PTI

Jamshedpur, May 2: Indian cricket's pride Mahendra Singh Dhoni needed more match practice to further hone up his performance, former Indian skipper Kapil Dev said on Monday.

Practice and experience are the two major bedrocks of the game. But since Dhoni did not have much experience, he should continue to put more effort and more practice at this age, the veteran speedster said in Jamshedpur late tonight.

Kapil advised the 24-year-old stumper-batsman, the first cricketer from Jharkhand, to spend more time on the ground.

"Hard work", was Kapil's reply when asked about the Indian's prospects in the forthcoming World Cup.

To a query whether former Team India skipper Sourav Ganguly had any chance to make a comeback in the Indian team, Kapil said Ganguly had' to score runs consistently to make a comeback.

He said all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath was the best example of making a come back. In fact, Amarnath's second stint was more successful as he had improved his performance, he pointed out.

Ganguly will have to put more effort to reserve a berth in the team, Kapil said.

When asked to comment on Pakistan Cricket Board's reported charges against International Cricket Council's cricket committee chairman Sunil Gavaskar of being biased, Kapil refused to comment on the issue based on media report.

Kapil, who arrived in the steel city to promote the products of a pharmaceutical company, said the spread of cricket in small centres has immensely benefitted the game in the country.

Eighty per cent of the players today come from small centres and this has changed the trend of the game, Kapil, captain of the the World Cup winning team, said.

Asked about the present lot of fast bowlers, the former all-rounder observed that during the last 10-15 years, many fast bowlers came out in the country but it was a different issue that they could not last for long.

However, it was certainly a positive step that the number of fast bowlers are coming up now, he said.

Dhoni lost his status as the top-rated ODI batsman of world in the ICC ODI batsman ranking on April 29 to Adam Gilchrist, but the Aussie now holds a slender three-point advantage over the explosive Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, who assumed the top position from Ricky Ponting for the first time less than two weeks ago.