Reprieve for Kapil Dev

BANGALORE: India8217;s cricket chiefs shied away from sacking a reluctant Kapil Dev as national coach on Sunday, saying they wanted to speak to him before taking any action. Kapil had put his job on the line in an interview last week. But he had left it to the Board of Control for Cricket in India to determine whether he should serve out the second part of his two-year term as national coach.

The BCCI, which was expected to take action against Kapil today, instead authorised president AC Muthiah to speak to the former star. 8220;Kapil is obviously a very disturbed person at the moment, and the interview was an emotional outburst,8221; Muthiah said. 8220;He is normally a very confident person. I don8217;t know what has gone wrong, but I intend to find out. The board has authorised me to call on Kapil and speak to him. I have also been told to take whatever decision is deemed fit. I will be meeting Kapil shortly,8221; Muthiah said.

With India not slated to play international cricket until the mini-World Cup in Kenya in October, Muthiah has enough time to either convince Kapil to continue or find a successor. Kapil, who is at the centre of an investigation into corruption in cricket, suffered Income Tax raids on his offices and home last month as part of the probe.