'I am through with cricket': Kapil

India's cricket icon Kapil Dev put his job as national coach on the line, saying the match-fixing and corruption charges against him forced him to snap all ties with the game.

"If this is what I get for being a cricketer, I don't want to be part of it," an emotional Kapil told AFP in an interview. "I know I am clean, I have nothing to hide. The investigations will prove that. But I am finished with cricket. It's not worth it." Kapil, however, said it was up to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to determine whether he should serve out his two-year term as national coach.

"I took on the job last year, despite my heavy business commitments, because I wanted to give something back to the game. "I never shirked responsibility during my playing days, and will not do so now. If they want me for one more year, then fine. "I will do the job to the best of my ability. But after that I will have nothing to do with cricket," he said.

The BCCI is expected to discuss the fall-out of the match-fixing scandal at it's meeting in Bangalore this weekend. Board chief A.C. Muthiah has said players being investigated, like Kapil, former captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja, will not be punished unless they are found guilty by federal authorities.

But the BCCI is under pressure from sports minister Sukhdev Dhindsa, who wants the tainted players to step down on moral grounds. Kapil argues: "I have done nothing wrong. Why should I resign because my house has been raided by income-tax authorities. "By that reckoning, everyone who has been raided should step down."

Among those whose premises were searched were Jagmohan Dalmiya, former president of the International Cricket Council who remains a powerful player in BCCI affairs, and board treasurer Kishore Rungta.

Kapil, Test cricket's most successful bowler till West Indian Courtney Walsh overtook him in March this year, took a swipe at cricket officials for messing up the game.

"If the Board had acted earlier, the game's reputation would not have suffered. "It's a consequence of the Board not being in the hands of professionals. It's no use having honorary people who have other jobs to do and are not accountable to anyone."

Kapil said no BCCI official had spoken or written to him to indicate if he will continue as coach. He hoped the government will release their findings soon, so that the guilty are not punished and the innocent spared the trial by media.

"My life has changed for ever. I am a fighter, but I know it's time to move on when the media hounds my five-year-old daughter and asks her how much money was recovered from under the bed."

Kapil was accused by former team-mate Manoj Prabhakar of offering him a bribe to perform badly in a one-day match against arch-rivals Pakistan in 1994.

After Kapil denied the charge, a senior BCCI official smelt a rat in his decision not to enforce the follow-on during the Ahmedabad Test against New Zealand last year.

"The decision not to follow-on was taken by (then captain) Sachin Tendulkar after consulting the bowlers, and I as a coach supported him," Kapil clarified.

Kapil was also accused of receiving a luxury car from South African sweetmeat shop owner Hameed "Banjo" Cassim, a central figure in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African captain Hansie Cronje.

"The car was given to me by an auto dealer, and not my Hameed, during the 1992 tour because I had just reached 400 wickets on the previous tour of Australia.

"It was good publicity for the dealer and was no secret. The function was attended by the entire Indian team and the media. "I knew Hameed like the rest of the Indian team because he brought home-cooked food to the dressing room. I have never had any other dealings with him."

Kapil, one of the game's finest all-rounders, took 434 wickets and scored 5,248 runs in a 131-Test career spanning 16 years from 1978 to 1994.

The highlight of his outstanding career was leading India to victory in the 1983 World Cup in England. He also played 225 one-dayers, scoring 3,783 runs and claiming 253 wickets.

Earlier story: Kapil Dev to be replaced

Mail Cricket Editor