Kapil did the right thing, say Bengal players

Utpal Chatterjee, Sambaran Bannerjee, Gopal Bose and Pankaj Roy are all of the opinion that Kapil Dev has taken the right step by resigning from his post of national coach. At the same time, most of them were of the opinion that he had no other option especially as the performance of the team had not been praiseworthy during the last season.

Bannerjee, a former national selector and Bengal wicket-keeper said, "Kapil Dev has taken the right step. It is not possible to concentrate on coaching when you have to fight allegations like match-fixing. He should have made this move a long time back."

Bengal skipper Utpal Chatterjee however, feels that more than anything else it was the lack of performance that forced Dev's resignation. "Except for a home series win against New Zealand he had nothing to show. The performance of the team was not up to the mark. So the writing on the wall was clear."

However, both Gopal Bose and Raju Mukherjee, two former cricketers of the state were very critical of the Board's action. Bose said, "The Board had contracted Kapil Dev for two years. If they were not satisfied with his performance they could have removed Dev earlier. However, they kept him on, wanting him to resign. I wish our Board would act in the same way as the Australian Board. Look at the way they employed the present coach John Buchanan. They asked all the applicants for the post of coach to submit a project report regarding their plans. Then they selected Buchanan because he had the best plans, even though there were applicants like Greg Chappell. I just wish our board would have functioned in the same manner."

Raju Mukherjee on the other hand felt that Dev was forced to resign. "Circumstances were built up in such a manner that he had no option but to go away. I still believe that Kapil had to resign for noncricketing reasons. If performance would have been the criteria, the BCCI would have removed him long ago.'' Mukherjee, however, went on to add, "his removal will not really harm the Indian team, simply because as the coach, Kapil Dev rarely looked inspiring."