Pawar says he won't fight BCCI polls again

New Delhi, Dec 9 (UNI) BCCI President Sharad Pawar today said that he would pave away for a successor to head the cricket board after his present term expires.

Talking to BBc Hindi's ''Ek Mulaqat'', Mr Pawar made it clear that he won't continue in his office after the term and said, ''After this tenure is over, I shall not take this responsibility.'' He, however, said that he would continue to help the game and administrators.

Mr Pawar reiterated that it was requests from various quarters that prompted him to fight the BCCI polls despite losing in his previous attempt for the BCCI top job.

''When I first stood for election I lost. I had only one problem at that time, the bowler and the umpire were the same. And when you have an umpire-bowler combination, you are bound to lose your wickets, (so) I lost my wicket.

''In the next election, we prepared ourselves and won with unprecedented margin. And in the recent elections, I won unopposed,'' Mr Pawar said, recalling his acrimonious battle against the camp led by former board president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

The BCCI President also refused to blame coach Greg Chappell for all the ills plaguing Indian cricket and said the Aussie remains a players' favourite.

''He has worked as a coach, this impression has been given by all players. I have spoken to players many times and all of them have said that their performance has improved because he has helped them improve their game,'' Mr Pawar, also the Agriculture Minister, said.

He also felt that poor standard of domestic cricket was the real reason behind Team India's flaging fortunes in recent past and felt maximum importance should be given to domestic cricket.

UNI AY PM GC1859