Let Jadeja play: Kapil

Former India captain Kapil Dev says, in view of the court direction, the Board should allow former all-rounder Ajay Jadeja to play in Ranji Trophy matches.

The Delhi high court on Thursday directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India to consider Jadeja for selection in Ranji Trophy matches if found eligible in view of the arbitrator's award in his favour.

"Now the arbitrator has quashed his ban and the court has given a favourable order. So I think he should be allowed to play. No one should be stopped from playing and I am saying this from the beginning," Kapil, Wisden's Indian cricketer of the century, told Aaj Tak.

The arbitrator had ordered the BCCI to lift the five-year ban imposed on Jadeja for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal.

The BCCI challenged the verdict in the Delhi high court on Friday.

The first ever multi-discipline sports awards in the country, the Hero Indian Sports Awards will be given away on Wednesday at a glittering function in the capital.

The awards ceremony, to be held at the Indira Gandhi stadium, will witness the presence of sports stars like Tiger Pataudi, Sourav Ganguly, Mahesh Bhupathi, Dhanraj Pillay, Baichung Bhutia, Geet Sethi, Anjali Vedpathak and Jaspal Rana.

The awards, instituted by Hero Indian Sports Academy, include Lifetime Achievement Award, Best Sportsman of the Year Award, Best Sportswoman of the Year, Best Team of the Year, outstanding performance in the field of chess, badminton, tennis, cricket, golf, football, hockey, cue sports, athletics, kabaddi, shooting and weightlifting.

The nominations have been conferred for outstanding performance in the respective field of sport for the calendar year January 1 to December 31, 2002.

Pakistan is awaiting evidence of match-fixing from the International Cricket Council before it decides whether to reopen a World Cup 1999 probe, an official has said.

"If the ICC has solid evidence they should send it to us and if they (the charges) are of such a serious level then we would send it to the government or to the judge who did the inquiry for further action," Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia said.

At last month's meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, the ICC questioned Pakistan's match-fixing report conducted by Lahore high court judge Justice Karamat Bhandari.

The Bhandari report, released in June last year, concluded that there was no evidence of match-fixing in Pakistan's surprise defeats to Bangladesh and India, clearing the Pakistan team of wrongdoing.

Pakistan initiated the inquiry after Ali Bacher, a former managing director of South Africa's United Cricket Board, alleged Pakistan's two defeats in the 1999 World Cup were fixed.

Bacher, who said the information was passed to him by former Pakistan captain Majid Khan, never appeared before the commission to substantiate his allegations, despite several requests.

The PCB has reportedly consulted its lawyer and will answer the ICC's objections during the Council's annual meeting in London in two months.

"We think there's some sort of misunderstanding and want to finish it as soon as possible," Zia said.

Indian cricket team vice-captain Rahul Dravid might continue in his dual role of wicketkeeper-batsman in one-day internationals, a national selector indicated.

"Dravid has been doing a good job and there is nothing wrong (in him continuing as 'keeper) as he has proved his worth. And it has not affected his performance with the bat," Pranab Roy, a member of the national selection committee representing, said.

"In the initial stages, Dravid was little bit shaky but he picked up later, leaving no room for complaint," Roy, who was here to watch the Ranji Trophy semi-final between Baroda and Mumbai, said.

Roy said that the limited overs game demanded different types of all-rounders, they need not necessarily be batsmen-cum-bowlers.

"Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar do different set of jobs, and it is the same for Dravid. The all-rounders are expected to do different roles," he said.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia said he hopes that once the ice is broken between arch rivals Pakistan and India, cricket can be a confidence building measure between the two rivals.

"Once the ice is broken through dialogue between the Pakistani and Indian governments, I think cricket can be a confidence-building measure and it will remain peaceful," Zia told reporters.

Cricket officials of both the countries are set to meet on the sidelines of the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Dubai on May 3 at a time when Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has offered a hand of friendship to Islamabad.

India had severed its cricketing ties with Pakistan over the Kashmir issue and had not allowed its team to play Pakistan in any bilateral series.

Both teams have played just one limited-over match in two-and-a-half years, a World Cup match at Centurion in South Africa last month.

"India will have to show the world and we can take more and more steps, we have special things to strengthen the ties," the PCB chief said. Pakistan earlier this month pulled out from the biennial Asia Cup scheduled in August this year in Dhaka as a tit-for-tat measure in response to India's refusal to send its team to Pakistan for the planned series in April-May this year.

"We never wanted to go in the negatives, but India has shown an adamant stance but still I have not lost all hope," he said.

"India refused visas to ACC development manager Zakir Syed last year to a school team which wanted to compete in Mumbai and then did not give visas to our golfers, so they have blocked sports and mixed in politics."

India pulled out of Asian Test championship in September 2001 and then turned down Pakistan's invitation to play a Golden Jubilee Test last year.

"The International Cricket Council has clear instructions that politics should not be mixed with sports but India has done that, we now hope things change."