Kapil asks PCA to return 'gifts and memorabilia'

Two weeks after his poster was removed from the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium in Mohali, Kapil Dev has written to the PCA requesting them to return his 'gifts and memorabilia'.

In a letter sent to MP Pandove, the PCA secretary, Kapil said, "I came to know through media reports that the Punjab Cricket Association has removed my portrait from the Punjab Cricket Association ground in Mohali for some unknown reasons. Well, it's your decision and you are free to do whatever you want.

"I am concerned about the personal gifts and memorabilia from my cricketing years and also that of the 1983 World Cup, given by me to the PCA, which are kept at various places at the Mohali ground," Kapil said. "I apprehend now that the association may not like to preserve the memorabilia mentioned above any more. I will really be grateful if the same is returned to me so that I can preserve them. I have personal attachments with these items, which were used by me throughout my cricketing years."

Kapil has been at loggerheads with the Indian board since he joined the Indian Cricket League. The BCCI stopped his pension - normally available to retired Indian players - and he was removed from his position as chairman of the National Cricket Academy.

"I didn't start this whole thing," Kapil told Indian Express. "If they have no respect for cricketers like me, it is natural for me to fear about the safety and utility of my stuff lying with them."

However, Pandove had earlier said Kapil's poster had been removed only temporarily. "A new extension has been constructed at the PCA Stadium, and we're just looking for an appropriate place to put up his poster. As soon as we find a place, we will place it."