M A I N   N E W S

Kapil gets clean chit

New Delhi, October 22
The internal inquiry of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) into the match-fixing scandal has exonerated legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev from any wrongdoing and closed all cases pending against him but found two former captains — Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajit Wadekar — “remiss” in at least one controversial situation.

The inquiry headed by BCCI Anti-Corruption Commissioner K. Madhavan concluded that there was “no misconduct of any type” in the Ahmedabad Test against New Zealand in 1999 in which India did not impose a follow-on despite being in a position to do so. Kapil Dev, then coach of the Indian team, and captain Sachin Tendulkar had been severely criticised for the decision and allegations surfaced that the match, eventually ending in a draw, had been fixed.

Madhavan’s report also found no evidence to substantiate allegations by former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar that he had been offered money by Kapil Dev for underperforming during a series in Sri Lanka in 1994.

However, Azharuddin and Wadekar couldn’t come clean in the case involving slow batting by Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia in a one-day international against the West Indies in Kanpur in 1994. Madhavan found the duo, captain and coach respectively, ‘remiss’ for their failure to send a message across to the batsmen to score faster. Azharuddin has challenged in a court the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI for his alleged involvement in match-fixing.

Kapil still bitter
After being absolved today in the match-fixing scandal, a still bitter Kapil Dev said “what is the use of exonerating me after dragging my name in the mud”.

“The Madhavan Report clearing my name can not cause me any elation after all that I had to go through,” the ace all-rounder told PTI from Scotland on phone.

The former Indian captain and coach, who was accused by teammate Manoj Prabhakar of offering Rs 25 lakh to underperform in a Test in Sri Lanka in 1994, wept bitterly during a BBC TV interview by Karan Thapar and subsequently severed all connections with cricket. PTI