BHOPAL, 20 December 2002 — Muhammad Azharuddin, the most successful cricket captain India ever produced, has now a sympathizer in his former senior colleague Kapil Dev, who spoke in very kind words about him while deriding the media at Kozhikode for its negative approach.
According to agencies’ reports legendary Kapil Dev gave a clean chit to former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin, saying, “To me, Mohammed Azharuddin is innocent. Azhar had played with me for about two decades and to my mind he has not done anything wrong,” Kapil told reporters.
At the same time, he said, if anyone could provide sufficient proof to Azhar’s involvement in match-fixing, “then, I will turn his severest critic.
“Let us not criticize someone who had served the country for so long, believing allegations that are yet to be proved,” Kapil asserted. Asked if he meant that he continued to support Azharuddin, Kapil said, “It is not a question of supporting or not, but he had been my colleague like Sachin Tendulkar and others for many years. Rather than believing the charges, I would like to go by my observations”, he remarked.
He firmly emphasized that he has “no reason not to believe Muhammad Azharuddin’s words” over the match-fixing controversy he was allegedly involved in. “I was myself on the front-pages of newspapers for several days and got trapped in a baseless controversy later, I am only supporting the cause of a great cricketer who was my contemporary,” Kapil said.
Strongly pleading the case of Azhar, whose ‘crime’ is yet to be proved, Kapil said he firmly believed that the wristy Hyderabadi player was “innocent to the best of my knowledge”.
Why should I believe a guy on the street who pointed fingers against a man who has played for the country for so long? “I know the pain. They kept me on the front pages for 100 days. If it happened with me, it can happen with anybody”, he said, taking a dig at the media who he accused of sensationalizing “negative news” by splashing them on the front pages.
“At the end of the day, truth will come out”, he said, saying that his belief may possibly be misplaced, but until then the former player should be spared of the victimization.
