Dilip Vengsarkar backtracks but Kapil Dev, Madan Lal confirm Dawood’s presence in dressing room

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: A day after TV channels showed Dilip Vengsarkar talking about underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s presence in the Indian dressing room, the former Indian skipper surprisingly took a U-turn and denied making any such statement even though Kapil Dev and Madan Lal confirmed such incident, according to reports. In a big revelation, Vengsarkar had on Monday claimed that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim had offered car to each member of Indian cricket team including Kapil Dev as a reward if they defeated Pakistan in the final of Austral-Asia Cup in 1986. While Vengsarkar backtracked from his remarks, India’s world cup winning skipper Kapil Dev and Madan Lal, who were a part of the squad, confirmed the presence of Dawood in the Indian dressing room and also that Kapil was the one who asked him to leave. Vengsarkar on Monday revealed that Dawood made an offer where if Indian team defeated Pakistan in the Austral-Asia Cup final, being played in Sharjah, he would gift Toyota Corolla to each member of the Indian team. It was then that Kapil Dev entered the dressing room and enquired about the presence of Dawood, apparently unaware who he was. He promptly asked him to leave the room. Angered by Kapil’s reaction, Dawood left the dressing room and cancelled his offer. In an interview to Zee News, Kapil Dev corroborated the incident and said he didn’t know who Dawood was at the time but he denied remembering chiding him. Pakistan went on to win the final by one wicket.