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I don't know why I was called: Wadekar
Jan 08, 2001, 15:30 Hrs (IST)

New Delhi: Former Indian cricket captain and coach Ajit Wadekar on Monday expressed surprise at the timing of his summons by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Special Commissioner K Madhavan particularly when he had already said everything which he had to say to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the match-fixing scandal.

Wadekar, who is contesting for the post of President of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), did not rule out Monday's development having an effect on the elections.

"I don't know why I was called for this, I had nothing new to say but BCCI asked me to appear before the Special Commissioner, the timing is significant as I am in thick of campaigning" Wadekar told newspersons after his three and half hour meeting with Mr Madhavan.

A visibly shaken former Indian coach said he had nothing new to say to Madhavan. Asked if he was quizzed on his statement to the CBI, Wadekar said "No comment".

Asked if the whole thing was a setup to effect his chances in the MCA elections, Wadekar said, "I am not sure but it may have some effect."

Madhavan, who grilled Wadekar for about 210 minutes, later told newspersons that the former Indian coach was ''very co-operative''.

"Wadekar answered all my questions," Madhavan said adding he had asked the former captain/ coach to appear before him because the BCCI ''asked me to conduct the inquiry as there were some allegations about Nikhil Chopra and Kapil Dev when Wadekar was the coach of the national team."

He said he has no plan to call Wadekar again for another meeting. "We recorded his statement and our work is complete," Madhavan said.

Madhavan made it clear to the mediapersons that he was not going to tell them any thing about the meeting. "You are not going to see his (Wadekar's) statement, because I am not going to show it to you," he said.

"The meeting was a smooth affair. Whatever I wanted to know from Wadekar, he told me," Madhavan said.

There was heavy security in and around Ferozshah Kotla Stadium as Ajit Wadekar arrived here to appear before Madhavan this morning. Madhavan had also summoned former skipper and coach Kapil Dev on January 10, also at the Kotla.

Wadekar is the first person outside of the ambit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe to be summoned by Madhavan.

UNI