Bedi compliments selectors

Onkar Singh in Delhi

Former India cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi has complimented the national selectors for "showing courage in selecting the right of kind of team" for the October 3 to 15 ICC Knock-out tournament in Keyna.

"The team that they have selected will be able to perform without any pressures," he said.

Another former Test cricketer, who did not want to be named, also welcomed the selectors' decision. "I don't know if the decision to drop Azhar, Jadeja and Mongia was taken at the directive of the Board of Control for Cricket in India or otherwise. But by not including these people in the squad the selectors have shown tremendous courage in dropping the guys who are under investigation in the match-fixing scandal. They should now drop Kapil Dev as coach of the team," he said.

Allrounder Manoj Prabhakar, who named Kapil Dev as the player who offered him Rs 2.5 million to under perform in a Singer Cup match against Pakistan in 1994, felt the dropping of the tainted players was expected. "I do not feel happy, but it was expected. The youngsters should now realise that they should concentrate on playing the game of cricket alone. The process of cleaning up has started. This is a good beginning," Prabhakar told rediff.com.

BCCI president A C Muthiah had last week said he would meet coach Kapil Dev sometime later in the week and decide whether the cricketing icon should continue as the coach of the team or be replaced. The axing of Jadeja, Azhar and Mongia from the list of 23 probables indeed gives a clear indication that Kapil too may be asked to go.

Kapil is yet to appear before the CBI in the ongoing investigations in the match-fixing case.

"I cannot tell you when he will appear before us. But he will definitely be asked to come and explain his position before we submit our report to the government by the end of this month," CBI joint director, investigations, R N Savani, told rediff.com on Saturday morning. He, however, did not rule out the possibility of Kapil appearing before the agency next week.

Meanwhile, CBI officials denied that Income Tax officials handed over a diary belonging to Ajay Jadeja to them.

"No such diary was seized by the department during the raids. Yes, the dairy that was found belonged to one Jai Jadeja, one of the members of the erstwhile royal family of Gujarat. This man is now in Cyprus and he is working in some hotel there. We have checked his credentials and the man in question exists in flesh and blood," said an officer from the agency.

In another development, Mukesh Gupta, once alleged the biggest bookie in the match-fixing case, reopened his jewellery shop in South Extension.

Mail Cricket Editor