Sports should not become routine. It should be about passion.

The words of Kapil Dev, hero of cricket and symbol of resilience, echo with a truth that transcends the boundary of fields and stadiums: “Sports should not become routine. It should be about passion.” In this declaration, he reminds us that the soul of competition is not found in habit, nor in mechanical repetition, but in the fire of devotion that transforms play into poetry and struggle into triumph.

He begins with the warning against routine. Routine is the slow death of spirit, the dulling of the blade through overuse without renewal. It is the athlete who trains but forgets why, the competitor who plays but no longer dreams. To let sport become routine is to strip it of its sacredness, reducing it to drudgery, making it no different from the endless turning of a millstone. Kapil Dev cries out against this fate, insisting that the purpose of sport is not mere performance, but the exaltation of the heart.

What he exalts instead is passion. Passion is the fire that wakes an athlete at dawn with joy instead of dread, that fills the lungs with courage, that transforms exhaustion into ecstasy. It is passion that makes the bat sing in the hands of a cricketer, the ball dance in the hands of a bowler, the crowd rise to its feet in awe. Without passion, victories are hollow, but with it, even defeat carries nobility. Sport is not only about winning—it is about living with such intensity that each moment becomes eternal.

History confirms this truth. Consider the 1983 Cricket World Cup, when Kapil Dev himself led an unfancied Indian team against mighty West Indies. They had no expectation of triumph, no long history of dominance. Yet they played with passion, with the raw fire of belief, and from that passion was born a victory that changed the course of Indian cricket forever. If those men had treated their task as routine, they would have been crushed by the weight of odds. But because they burned with passion, they lifted a nation’s spirit.

This lesson is not for athletes alone, but for all who live. The scholar who studies without passion becomes a scribe, but the one who loves truth becomes a sage. The worker who labors without passion becomes a machine, but the one who finds purpose in his toil becomes a builder of worlds. Passion is the breath of greatness in every endeavor. It is what separates the ordinary from the extraordinary, the routine from the radiant.

Yet passion does not come cheaply. It must be cultivated, protected, and renewed. One must guard against cynicism, against weariness, against the creeping chill of routine. Just as fire requires fuel, so too does passion require reminders—reminders of why one began, of the joy found in the first swing of the bat, the first race run, the first leap toward a goal. Passion must be fed by memory, vision, and the willingness to throw oneself fully into the moment.

Therefore, children of the future, take this truth to heart: do not let life become routine. Live it with passion. In sport, in study, in work, in love—let the flame burn brightly, for without it, victory is ash and time is wasted. But with it, even the smallest act can shine like gold. Sports, Kapil Dev teaches, are not about endless cycles of practice and performance—they are about the fire of the soul, and that fire belongs to all who dare to embrace it.

Thus, his words endure across time: let your game, and your life, be about passion, not routine. For in passion lies the power to change yourself, to inspire others, and to turn fleeting moments into immortality.