Calcutta, March 10 :     As teammates Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev may not have shared an entirely love-only relationship but today, Kapil sprang to Gavaskar?s defence in his war of words with Sarfraz Nawaz. Kapil, it should be noted, is the first teammate to come out in Gavaskar?s support. Sadly, even the Board had not reacted till this afternoon ? belatedly, Board president Raj Singh Dungarpur issued a strong statement in Mumbai. ?Sarfraz may have played some cricket, but that doesn?t give him the right to run down an idol. Moreover, Sarfraz has no business dragging India?s name in the dirt,? an infuriated Kapil told The Telegraph this morning. During a TV interview with Tony Greig on Sunday afternoon (Day-IV of the Gaddafi Test), Sarfraz alleged that Gavaskar and Asif Iqbal, the two captains, had ?fixed? the Mumbai (then Bombay) Test in the 1979-80 series. Speaking during the high-profile Pro-Am meet, at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Kapil added: ?Anybody who makes match-fixing allegations ? in fact, any allegation at all ? should only do so with evidence. Otherwise, keep shut and don?t soil reputations that take years to build.? Kapil, however, felt Gavaskar shouldn?t have retaliated on TV itself, that afternoon. ?I?ve been told he simply exploded. Well, I don?t quite agree with that. After all, Gavaskar has only ended up giving Sarfraz and the allegations so much more importance. Had I been in Gavaskar?s shoes, I would have ignored Sarfraz.? And to drive that point home, Kapil talked about the time (mid-1997) when Rashid Latif alleged (in a weekly) that he (Kapil) was gambler No.1. ?As far as I remember, I didn?t make a public comment. But, yes, if those close to me wanted a reaction, I just said I would never gamble with my bread-and-butter. More to the point, am I the sort to compromise India?s interests? Bottomline is why should one respond to the Latifs and Sarfrazs?? Tearing into Sarfraz yet again, Kapil, who played that so-called ?fixed? Test, said: ?The wicket may not have been a featherbed, but I can?t recall anybody having reservations about batting. Indeed, I myself got 69 (top score) in the first innings and, really, I batted like a champion. ?May be, I was out to prove a point because, on the eve of that Test, the local media had quoted Gavaskar as saying I ?wasn?t good enough to get a Test fifty?. But whatever the case ? incidentally, later, Gavaskar confessed he was only giving me some chabhi ? I scored at will and wasn?t in any discomfort. ?Also, we won by a huge margin (131 runs with a day to spare). So, how was the Test rigged? Let me add that not for a moment did one get the impression something was amiss. Forget what Sarfraz would like the world to believe.? But with there being no end to allegations, isn?t it possible that some cricketers could be involved with match-fixing? Kapil paused for just a moment, and then answered: ?Can?t say. But, yes, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh?s confessions (briefly, having been on the payroll of an Indian bookie) have been disturbing...? His body-language suggested big disillusionment.