Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev joined former captain Sunil Gavaskar in condeming sledging in cricket, saying matches should be won through performance and not "unfair" means.
"You should win on the basis of talent and performance. If you resort to means like sledging to earn a victory, I think that's unfair," Kapil told reporters in Kolkata on Saturday.
The skipper of the 1983 World Cup-winning India side said the game was virtually free of sledging when he and Gavaskar played cricket.
"The odd incident or two may have occurred, but largely the game was sledging-free. Older generation players like me and Gavaskar played the game in a healthier way, in tune with its lofty spirit," Kapil said.
"I can understand Gavaskar's sentiments when he expressed his dismay with sledging. It is diffcult for our generation players to accept it. I wholeheartedly support Sunny," he said.
Referring to Australia, who are now being widely cricticised for resorting to rampant sledging on the ground, Kapil said, "If they are such a talented side, why do they need to take recourse to sledging? Their performance should be enough."
Gavaskar, while delivering the prestigious Collin Cowdrey lecture at the MCC on Tuesday, had decried sledging, saying that it is ruining the good name of the game and called for protection to players against unchecked personal abuse.
Without naming Australia, Gavaskar said the "Champions" were setting a wrong example by their intimidatory tactics and "verbal bouncers" on the field.
Kapil also expressed his disapproval of Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee mocking at Gavaskar's comments.
On Lillee's charge that Gavaskar had himself resorted to protest on the cricket field when he was given out during the Melboure Test in February 1981, Kapil said: "He (Gavaskar) may have done that once. But I have played cricket with him for a long time. And I never saw him indulging in sledging.
"But one should not pass judgement on somebody citing a singular aberration," he said.
Asked to react to former Pakistani batsman Javed Miandad's support to verbal sledging in his autobiography "Cutting Edge", Kapil said, "I respect Javed as a player, but not the comments he had made on the issue."
Asked whether India should go for turning pitches to favour its spinners in the coming home series against New Zealand, Kapil said, "The hosts always get such advantage. But now the Indian team has bowlers and batsmen who can play on all kinds of tracks."
The former all-rounder also hedged a question on whether India needs a bowling coach, joking, "Why only bowling coach? They need so many other coaches, even a secretarial coach."
Kapil, who is in Kolkata on a promotional trip on behalf of television channel Max, is scheduled to visit the homes of three lucky winners of the 'Kapil Apke Ghar' contest.
