M A I N   N E W S

Minister for Kapil’s ouster

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (PTI) — Minister of State for Sports Shahnawaz Hussain today said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should take action with regard to coach Kapil Dev similar to the one taken against Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Nikhil Chopra, who were dropped from the list of probables for the Nairobi ICC Knockout tournament.

“A similar action against Kapil Dev will send out a good message,’’ Mr Hussain said here when asked to comment on the exclusion of the three players from the list of probables for next month’s Kenya tour.

‘‘It is not that the government is pressurising the board, but at the same time the government is answerable both to Parliament and the people,’’ he added.

Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa welcomed the dropping of the three players saying the selection committee ‘‘has done a very good thing.’’

“It will give the new players a chance. It is a very good thing (dropping of the three players) that the BCCI has done. The juniors are good and talented players and by giving them a chance their potential can be judged,’’ Mr Dhindsa told PTI over telephone from Chandigarh.

Asked whether he will ask the BCCI to take similar action against Kapil Dev, Mr Dhindsa said the government would not interfere in the functioning of the BCCI, but reiterated his earlier suggestion that all tainted players should go out of the team till their names were cleared of match-fixing charges.

‘‘The BCCI action is a corollary to my suggestion and it will do a lot of good to the Indian sport and specially cricket,’’ he said.