Hey, Kya bolte ho tum!

Hey, Kya bolte ho tum!
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, MAY 5: There is never a dull moment when Jaywant Lele is around. The man is truly a great copy with his stacatto replies, which is not always tempered by reason. He is natural, instinctive and in the process ends up quite comical.

Grilled by newshounds as to why the Indian team coach, Kapil Dev, was not around for selecting the probables, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India shot back in inimitable style: ``Simple. We have not called him!''

Lele, who has some well-documented recent run-ins with Kapil, soon changed gears and in lowering his decibel level explained that the captain and coach are not called while naming probables.

A sample of Lele's blunt, one-liners at the press conference:

Question: On Inderjit Singh Bindra's charges against Kapil Dev:
Lele: That's his view and has got nothing to do with the Board (It did not matter that the man making the explosive statement was a former BCCI supremo and a current president of one of the affiliated units of the Board).

Q:On Kapil Dev's suggestion that India should stay away from international cricket till the match-fixing allegations were cleared:
Lele: These are only allegations. The Board will honour all its international commitments.

Q: On why the BCCI is not pro-active on the Kapil issue:
Lele: We will take up the matter with Kapil Dev at the appropriate time.

Q: On why Manoj Prabhakar's Benevolent Fund has not been released:
Lele: Prabhakar has been paid for all the Ranji Trophy and other domestic matches he has played. His money from Tests and One-Day Internationals will be paid after his case is solved.

Q: But how can the BCCI hold back someone's Benevolent Fund?:
Lele: We will pay him with interest!