Calcutta: The Sharad Pawar regime has appointed Kapil Dev as chairman of the first-ever cricket development committee, but the World Cup-winning captain’s priority for the past couple of days has been the development of housing for the tsunami victims of the Galle region.

Kapil, in fact, was heading for the Sri Lankan coastal area which suffered most in last December’s tragedy, when the new Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president personally called to seek his availa- bility about heading the committee.

“I gave my consent, but didn’t go into details of what’s expected of me and the rest of the cricket development committee... I’ll be clear about what needs to be done when I return home, probably late tomorrow,” Kapil told The Telegraph on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking on his cell from Galle, where he was “trying to organise” a game between children of the tsunami victims, Kapil said: “I’m sure Mr Pawar has something in mind... Equally, others (on the committee) may have something to say... My own mind is going to be made up after I’ve got my brief...”

Two other former captains ? Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri ? are also on the committee. The other members are: Hanumant Singh (a Test centurion on debut), Arun Lal and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.

Kapil, incidentally, had largely been staying away from the BCCI’s activities after quitting as the India coach before the start of the 2000-01 season.

His trip to Sri Lanka has been organised by the London-based Laureus World Sports Academy. A helping hand has come from another icon ? Steve Waugh, who is already associated with a number of charitable causes.