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Innings over Indian coach Kapil Dev resigns
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- Kapil Dev, embroiled in a match-fixing scandal that has rocked cricket, said on Tuesday he had resigned as India's coach. Dev, a former Indian captain and until March the most successful bowler in test history, told Reuters he had sent a resignation letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Anshuman Gaekwad, India's coach at the 1999 World Cup, has been appointed as acting coach until alternative arrangements are made, BCCI Secretary Jaywant Lele said. "He (Gaekwad) will join the coaching camp the day after tomorrow," Lele told Reuters from the western city of Baroda. India are currently preparing for the ICC Knockout Trophy in Nairobi, Kenya, next month. Dev was questioned last week by the Central Bureau of Investigation following allegations of match-fixing made against him by former India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar. Prabhakar claimed that Dev had offered him 2.5 million rupees (US$57,340) as a bribe to underplay during a 1994 match against Pakistan, an official for the CBI said. Dev, who had been coach for almost a year and captained India to their 1983 World Cup win, has denied the allegations. BCCI president A.C. Muthiah said on Thursday he would meet Dev "within days" when his future would be decided. The CBI is due to submit its final match-fixing report to the Sports Ministry by the end of the month. In May, Dev, one of the game's greatest all-rounders, sobbed during a television interview when pressed on the scandal and said he would commit suicide before taking a bribe. OFFICIALS RAID HOME Tax officials raided his New Delhi home two months later as part of a nationwide swoop on cricketers, administrators and bookmakers. Indian sports minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has said any player accused in match-fixing should step down until his name was cleared. But so far no one has offered to quit. Earlier this month India omitted former captains Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja and off-spinner Nikhil Chopra from the list of probables for the ICC tournament. Selectors said the three, also under investigation in the match-fixing scandal, were rested because they were felt to be under strain. Lele said the issue of a full-time coach to succeed Dev will be discussed at the next BCCI board meeting on September 29 in Madras. Gaekwad was replaced last year as coach when Dev was named to lead India in the home series against New Zealand. Cricket's match-fixing scandal was sparked in April when Delhi police charged four South African cricketers, including captain Hansie Cronje, of "cheating, fraud and criminal conspiracy". Cronje was soon sacked as captain after admitting receiving money from a bookmaker for information and forecasting during a one-day series in January.
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