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Just Jadeja!

Ajay Jadeja, vice-captain of the Indian cricket team, admits there is betting in cricket.

''If somebody says it does not exist then he is telling a lie. Betting definitely takes place,'' Jadeja told Star TV for the programme 'Janata ki adalat', to be aired tomorrow.

Asked if he had ever been approached by anyone, Jadeja replied: ''Har tarah ke log milte hain; aise bhi log mile hai jo ... (You meet different types of people; you even meet some who ...) .'' He didn't complete the sentence.

Jadeja defended the captaincy of Mohammad Azharuddin.

''He has been the captain for the last ten years. It cannot be that in the last one year he has not been carrying the team along with him. Ten years ago he was captaining the same team.

"When we won the series in 1993 or 1997, he was the captain who broke records. The very same newspapers then wrote he was the best captain who won the maximum number of Test matches,'' Jadeja declared.

Asked to comment on former cricketer Kapil Dev's statement that India should not play cricket matches with Pakistan till the end of hostilites, Jadeja said, ''Under the circumstances, when our jawans are fighting and dying, I would not wish to play cricket with Pakistan.

''I am not saying that they are not my friends ... .Cricket and politics have their own place. I am not questioning why all this is happening? Can't we do even this for the jawans who are fighting for us? A cricket match is a very minor issue; it can be played some other time,'' he said.

About his ambition to captain India, the ace allrounder said: ''I believe that any cricketer who wishes to play for India would in his heart also have the desire to captain India?"

Asked if India would do better under his captaincy, he replied modestly, ''No, I don't believe that Ajay Jadeja or XYZ is a magician, and India will not ever lose. It was fortunate that we won the two, three matches that I led the team in. No team wins because of one man ... even when it is a defeat, there are eleven players. The same players played united as a team, and so we won that day.''

On his reported interest in switching over to acting as a career, Jadeja said, ''Cricket is my first love; cricket is everything for me. Even if I do get to do a film, it will be because today I am a cricketer. I am not going to get any film because of my face. I always like to try my hand at everything, and if I get a chance, definitely I will do it, but not at the cost of giving up cricket.''

He went on to clarify that he had not signed up for any movie with Madhuri Dixit.

On his relationship with Dixit, Jadeja said, ''Neither do I want to marry her, nor does she want to marry me. We know each other well, but there is no talk of marriage.''

UNI