Muthiah hits back at Kapil Dev

The president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India AC Muthiah on Wednesday hit out at the former Indian captain Kapil Dev, who resigned on Tuesday as coach of the national team.

Kapil Dev had some uncharitable comments to offer about the functioning of the board, both in a controversial interview last month and again in his resignation letter. Not one to take the criticism lying down, Muthiah came down pretty heavily on Kapil Dev saying that ``he is not a paragon of virtue.''

Pointing out that India had lost a home series under his tenure as coach, Muthiah debunked Kapil Dev's talk of the board lacking professionalism. ``If he is a professional, Kapil Dev should have by now sent his report on the tour of Australia last season to me. He has not done so.'' Muthiah said that while Kapil Dev was a great player, he is not a management specialist and could not talk about professionalism. ``He is no expert to comment on the functioning of the board,'' he said.

Responding to criticism that the board had not handled the Kapil resignation drama well, Muthiah said it was not stage managed. ``At the time I had invited Kapil to coach the Indian probables at Chennai, he was not thinking of quitting,'' he said.

On asking Anshuman Gaekwad to be the interim coach, Muthiah said that the former Indian batsman was appointed as he was familar about the role, having worked as coach till last year.

On the appointment of a full time coach, Muthiah said the board was examining the possibility of employing both a foreign coach and an Indian coach. According to present indications, the field has been narrowed down to John Wright of New Zealand and Geoff Marsh of Australia and Muthiah said a final decision would be taken at the Board's AGM at Chennai on September 29 and 30. He underscored the importance of having a foreign coach, saying they were well versed with latest techniques and developments. But he said that an Indian could be appointed as assistant coach who could take over after some time.

About the possibility of shifting the National Cricket Academy from Bangalore to Chennai, Muthiah said the Tamil Nadu government had already offered land for the proposed project. Former Australian wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, who is involved in an advisory capacity with the NCA had a look at the plot of land, which is at Sholinganallur on the outskirts of the city. But Muthiah clarified that the board had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Karnataka State Cricket Association. ``We wanted to start the Academy quickly, so we chose Bangalore.'' But Muthiah hinted that if the Karnataka government came up with a similar proposal, the board would examine that too.