NEW DELHI (Reuters)
Kapil Dev has ended a self-imposed exile by renewing links with cricket, a year after bitterly severing all ties with the game.

Kapil, the former Indian captain and coach, had vowed never to set foot on a cricket ground again following accusations in connection with cricket's match-fixing scandal.

But when left-arm pace bowler Ashish Nehra -- out of the current India squad with a groin injury -- turned to him, Kapil said he couldn't refuse.

"If some youngster asks me for help, how can I say no?" he said at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in New Delhi. "When a person says he's giving up studying, it doesn't mean he's saying he'll never read again."

Kapil wept during a television interview last year as he denied charges over match-fixing charges. He was questioned by Indian federal investigators but not censured as four other Test players were banned, including Mohammad Azharuddin for life.

"The game that gave me everything has now taken its pound of flesh from me," Kapil had said while resigning as India's coach last September.

Kapil's unannounced visit to the stadium came as a surprise to Delhi's state team, practising under former India left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi. "I didn't know he was going to be here," Bedi said.

Kapil ruled out becoming a cricket official again but added: "If some other players come to me for help, I'll be happy to do what I can for them."

The only Test cricketer to score 5000 runs and capture 400 wickets, Kapil played 131 games and was the game's leading Test wicket-taker with 434 before West Indian Courtney Walsh overtook him in March last year.

Kapil retired from international cricket in 1994.

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