Muthiah authorised to speak with Kapil

"There's one question I'd like to answer before you raise it. This is about our coach Mr. Kapil Dev" said AC Muthiah, president of the BCCI after the working committee meeting of the board at Bangalore on Sunday. The hall packed with journalists waited with bated breath. The tension in the air was palpable as a poker faced Muthiah revealed nothing. "There have been a lot of telephone calls to me after he made some statements. We (the working committee) have deliberated on this question. It looks like he is a very disturbed person at the moment. He has made some emotional outbursts." Now, what was he going to say? Does Indian cricket really need a 'disturbed person' as its coach?

Muthiah paused for effect and went on, "The Board has authorised me, the president, to call Mr. Kapil Dev and have a discussion with him. They have also authorised me to take whatever decision I see fit in the interest of Indian cricket. I will be calling him shortly and taking a decision very soon on the subject."

The BCCI president added that Kapil Dev is not usually given to these kind of outbursts. When the charge was made that the BCCI was soft when it came to making decisions of this kind, Muthiah responded sharply, "The board is not soft at all. The board is very firm in its decisions. We also have to follow certain ethical standards. We cannot react and be impulsive and take decisions."

Although this is a rather weak stance, it must be said that Muthiah did not really have much of a choice in the matter. The national coach's critics who were waiting to hear that Kapil Dev was sacked will have to wait longer.