Kapil ends self-imposed exile

Kapil Dev ended a self-imposed exile by renewing links with cricket on Tuesday, a year after bitterly severing all ties with the game.

The former Indian captain and coach had vowed never to set foot on a cricket ground again following accusations in connection with cricket's match-fixing scandal.

But when left-arm pace bowler Ashish Nehra -- out of the current India squad with a groin injury -- turned to him, Dev said he couldn't refuse.

"If some youngster asks me for help, how can I say no?" the former all-rounder said at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in New Delhi.

"When a person says he's giving up studying, it doesn't mean he's saying he'll never read again."

Kapil wept during a television interview last year as he denied charges over match-fixing charges. He was questioned by federal investigators but not censured as four other test players were banned, including Mohammad Azharuddin for life.

"The game that gave me everything has now taken its pound of flesh from me," Kapil had said while resigning as India's coach last September.

The only Test player to score 5,000 runs and capture 400 wickets, Kapil played 131 tests and was the game's leading test wicket-taker with 434 wickets before West Indian Courtney Walsh overtook him in March last year. Kapil retired from international cricket in 1994.

Mail Cricket Editor