Is Wadekar the ideal candidate?

While the only sort of thanks giving being conveyed to Wadekar during the CBI interogation comes from Mohd Azharuddin and that too has an air suspision about it. The former skipper’s confession of presenting a Rolex watch worth about Rs 75,000 for “a token of appreciation since Wadekar always guided him†had many reading between the lines.

Prabhakar’s in his statement to CBI slings the quantum of the match-fixing muck on Wadekar, who was the manager of the Indian team then. The Delhi all-rounder said that he had reported the infamous 1994 Singer Cup episode where Kapil offered him Rs 25 lakhs to “underperform†to the team management (read Wadekar and Azharuddin). Though the former manager categorically stateed to the CBI of not coming across any instance or information which hinted at match fixing, betting or involvement of Indian players in it, in the Prabhakar’s candid camera tehelka tapes he talks about informing BCCI secretary Jagmohan Dalmiya of these happenings.

Prabhakar also related to the CBI another incident where he had heard Wadekar on a parallel telephone line talking to an alleged bookie and felt that the former manager had a “positive attitude†towards match fixing.

He also puts the blame about the snail paced batting by him and Nayan Mongia in Kanpur Test against the West Indies during the ’94 series on Wadekar.

According Prabhakar the slow batting strategy was framed in the dressing room (Wadekar, Azhar being decision makers) and it was Mongia who had conveyed the message to him.

Ali Irani, the physio of the team during the same controversial Test, too points the finger to Wadekar for the Kanpur crawl. Irani stated that “people were so upset that one of the selectors G R Vishwanath even came to the dressing room and shouted at Wadekar asking him whether he knew what was going on and whether he had passed the instructionsâ€.

But despite all this the BCCI seems to playing the wait and watch game. The cricket board’s vice-president CK Khanna said, “The CBI have not found him guilty on any charges and nor has he been chargesheeted, moreover Madhavan’s is yet to submit his report, thus the board has no problems of Wadekar contesting the MCA elections.â€

With state association being independent bodies, the BCCI has hardly any say in the working. But if things go Wadekar’s way in his battle for the Mumbai Cricket Association presidentship against the Nationalist Congress Party supremo and political heavyweight Sharad Pawar, the former captain, manager and selectors will be elligible for another innings as BCCI official.