Kolkata, Nov 23: Cricketing legend Kapil Dev today came out in defence of tainted batsman Abhijit Kale and rapped the Indian cricket board for slapping a suspension on the player before proving his guilt. "How can you ban a player when he is not proven guilty?" Kapil said when asked to comment on the charges levelled against Kale of offering bribe to two national selectors for a berth in the Indian senior team.

Kapil, who himself had been in the eye of a controversy following team-mate Manoj Prabhakar's allegation that he had offered Prabhakar money for match-fixing said, "I have also gone through this phase. So I have complete support for this person (Kale)". Rapping the BCCI action to suspend the first class cricketer before any evidence was found against him, Kapil said, "If it (the allegation) is not proven, I wonder how the board will compensate him. Will the board officials levelling the charges be punished?"

He, however, made it clear that "if the allegations are proven, I will hate him."

The former all-rounder also questioned the haste with which the board meted out the punishment to Kale.

"If a finger was raised against a board official, would BCCI have acted against him without the case being proved?" In this regard, he also asked the media to exercise restrain. "Don't humiliate the game. It's a great game. Don't bring it down".

On Friday the BCCI suspended kale from playing any cricket conducted by the board after national selectors Kiran More and Pranab Roy alleged that he had offered them Rs 10 lakh each for a place in the national side.

Bureau Report