Kapil cannot be blamed for feeling embarrassed and that probably explains his cold responses to journalists, who have questioned him on the subject, but the BCCI can come out and say whether he is eligible or not and then allow opinions to flow without being bothered about them. In any case, that’s how the Board likes to function.

The charismatic cricketer may have not taken up the Board’s amnesty offer after several former players defected to the Indian Cricket League, but that is not a good reason for BCCI to be sly over the issue. That the ICL hastened the birth of IPL in 2008 is a different matter.