Kapil episode shows BCCI in poor light

The BCCI has not exactly distinguished itself in handling the grim episode culminating in the resignation of Kapil Dev as coach on Tuesday. Ever since three tainted players were left out of the list of 23 probables, it was expected that the same logic would apply to the coach. Kapil simply should not have continued at the helm of the Indian side, the events of the past few months having taken too heavy a toll on him. Why, even AC Muthiah had gone to the extent of calling him a disturbed man.

The crying need was for the uncertainty to end and for someone to be appointed sufficiently in advance to mentally prepare himself for the job. Instead of a quick and surgical excision, the BCCI dilly dallied. Although Muthiah made noises about appointing a foreigner to the job, which meant he was committed to dispensing with Kapil's services, the Board shrank from taking the decisive step of relieving Kapil and appointing an interim coach.

There is of course the suggestion that this was a quid pro quo between the Board and Kapil whereby Kapil was given the choice of resigning rather than being administered the push. Having already taken potshots at the Board, calling it unprofessional and so forth, one would have thought the Board had no cause to give Kapil any special consideration. But what does Muthiah do? He actually goes to the extent of saying on Monday that Kapil `might' be invited to supervise the camp, which hardly suggests that the Board were actively seeking his resignation. In any case it is baffling that Muthiah expected Kapil to take up such an offer, fully aware of the Board's avowed intentions to ease him out of the job soon.

In his missive, Kapil also reaffirmed his call for the BCCI to raise the bar of its professional standards and cites a masterly example of the board's ineptitude to rest his case. "When I speak of professionalism I would like to give you an example close to home. It is sad that the board could not inform me first of my appointment as coach and then of the extension. It is rather strange that I have to get my news through the media who always seem to be in the know of things before the concerned people themselves. Hence my effort to send you this letter directly, before speaking to the press." It is hard to believe that the board foisted the job on Kapil without taking him into confidence and harder still to believe that Kapil accepted the post in such circumstances.

Having made known his disillusionment with the game in fairly unambiguous terms, the only factor that held back Kapil's resignation was the belief that it could be construed as an admission of guilt. "I was waiting to be cleared by the investigating agencies before I gave in my resignation as I did not wish it to look like some kind of admission of any guilt to resign as soon as the scandal broke. Now, even though I know that the report will be submitted only later this month, unfortunately I cannot wait till that happens as the camp for our boys begins in two days and I would not like to start a job I will not finish." The CBI has been designated the final arbiter of this scandal and the verdict it announces should bring the lid down on this whole affair. Or will it open another can of worms? One never knows.