Former Captain Kapil Dev today buried his differences with the BCCI, after five years of estrangement, to mark his return to the official fold in a deal that makes him eligible to get Rs 1.5 crore for his services to the game.

The BCCI issued a media release, moments after the 1983 World Cup winning Captain met the Board President, Mr N Srinivasan, at the Board’s headquarters in Mumbai this morning. He was accepted back into the BCCI when he gave a letter to Mr Srinivasan that he had quit the defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL).

“The BCCI has received a letter from Mr. Kapil Dev, former India captain. Mr. Kapil Dev has informed the Board that he has resigned from the Essel Sports Private Limited / ICL. He has also stated in the letter that he has always supported the BCCI, and will continue to do so in the future.

The BCCI acknowledges Mr Kapil Dev’s immense contribution to Indian cricket and looks forward to a fruitful association with him in the years to come,” Mr Srinivasan said.

“The BCCI will now release the one-time benefit of Rs 1.5 crore for Kapil Dev (for playing more than 100 Tests) and he will again be eligible for monthly gratis of Rs 35,000 from the Board. His gratis arrears for the last five years will also be cleared with immediate effect,” a senior BCCI official told PTI today.

Asked whether there was any apology from the cricket legend in the letter, he said “there was none and none was expected too. He had mentioned that he had quit the ICL.”

Earlier, during this year’s IPL when several former cricketers were handed out payments worth Rs 70 crore by the BCCI, Kapil Dev had declared that he would not seek an amnesty.

It was learnt that Kapil Dev had then handed over to Mr Srinivasan a copy of his resignation from the post of executive Chairman of the ICL Board, paving the way for his return today.

The legendary all-rounder, who joined the now defunct ICL back in 2007, was banned by the BCCI for being a part of unsanctioned league. While the other cricketers and officials who were a part of the league had gone back to the official fold much earlier, Kapil Dev had said that he will never seek amnesty from the parent body unlike others.

But recently, during BCCI working committee which was held in New Delhi, Kapil Dev dropped in to meet Mr Srinivasan and handed him a copy of his resignation letter from ICL to the president and it was then matter of time before the parent body would welcome him back in its fold.

Even after the working committee meeting, a senior official had said that format of Kapil Dev’s letter will be such that “it doesn’t hurt the dignity of a player of his stature and at the same time restores BCCI’s position as the guardian of the game in the country.”

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