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'Murdered' Bitter Dev calls for reform of scandal-ridden sport
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- Indian cricketing titan Kapil Dev breathed fire on the game's administrators in his letter of resignation as national coach, and said he was walking away from a sport which had been "murdered". "The game that gave me everything has now taken its pound of flesh from me," the former India captain told Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President A.C. Muthiah in his letter, which was published in The Times of India on Wednesday. "I now go without looking back and will be happy if the board would not associate me in any way with its future plans of events connected to cricket." Dev, embroiled in a match-fixing scandal that has rocked the game from South Africa to South Asia, quit on Tuesday, less than halfway through his two-year contract as coach. That brought to an end a dazzling career during which he captained India to their 1983 World Cup win, held the record until March as the most successful bowler in test history and won acclaim as one of the game's greatest all-rounders. Dev was questioned last week by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following allegations of match-fixing made against him by former India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar. Dev, who denies the allegations, sobbed uncontrollably during a television interview after the scandal broke earlier this year and said he would commit suicide before taking a bribe. Lacing his resignation letter with emotion, Dev said cricket had given him so much but then taken a great deal away "on the mere hearsay of a third party". DEV ROUNDS ON BCCI But he reserved most of his bitterness for the BCCI, which he said appeared to have put no faith in his ability and had given him the feeling that he was being "put down on every occasion". "I have taken what came to me but I would request the Board to be kinder to the next coach and give him his due respect if they have the welfare of the game at heart," he said. "This is not a battle of flexing our muscles. The game which has been murdered has to slowly be brought back to life." Cricket's match-fixing scandal was sparked in April when Delhi police charged four South African cricketers of "cheating, fraud and criminal conspiracy". Hansie Cronje was soon sacked as South Africa's captain after he admitted receiving money from a bookmaker for information and forecasting during a one-day series in January. Tax officials raided Dev's New Delhi home in July as part of a nationwide swoop on cricketers, administrators and bookmakers. The CBI is due to submit its final report on its probe into match-fixing to the Sports Ministry by the end of this month. 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. India has omitted former captains Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja and off-spinner Nikhil Chopra from the list of probables for the ICC Knockout Trophy in Nairobi next month. Selectors said the three, also under investigation in the scandal, were rested because they were felt to be under strain. Dev said he had been waiting to be cleared by investigators before resigning "as I did not wish it to look like some kind of admission of guilt to resign as soon as the scandal broke". However, he said he could not wait any longer because the coaching camp for the ICC tournament was getting under way this week and he did not want to start a job he could not finish. Anshuman Gaekwad, India's coach at the 1999 World Cup, will be taking Dev's place until alternative arrangements are made.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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