Former India off-spinner Noel David has threatened to take his former teammate Venka Pratap to court for alleging that he bribed a national selector to be selected for the West Indies tour in 1997.

Speaking to rediff.com from Dubai, David said, "I will take action against Venka and also speak to Jagmohan Dalmiya to clear my name from this allegation."

David replaced Javagal Srinath, who was nursing an injury, in the team for the tour.

Pratap, in a recent interview, said, "The selection of Noel raised eyebrows. Noel was not even sure of a place in the Hyderabad team but he was picked for the Indian team."

David was livid about Pratap's comments and said the former Hyderabad batsman should clear his statement instead of backtracking on it.

"Where was he all this while? Was he sleeping?

"This rumour of me having paid a selector five lakhs [500,000] destroyed my career. I got into the team on the basis of my performance. I still have the newspaper cutting where [Sachin] Tendulkar praised my efforts," David said.

"If I had paid money would I be dropped after just half a season? I wanted answers; no one gave them to me.

"I have just one appeal. Please leave me alone. What have I done to deserve this? While I was playing they kept saying that I paid my way into the team; now that I have left the sport, these rumours are building up again. Please let me carry on with my life," he added.

David also swore that he never offered money to any selector or was approached by any.

"If I was not good then Shivlal Yadav, my selector, would have never picked me in the side. I was a substitute for four years before I made it to the Hyderabad team in 1992. If I was well-connected, I would have been in the team much before."

Extending support to Abhijit Kale, who is accused by two selectors of offering each of them Rs 10 lakh [approximately US $22,000] to be selected in the India team, David said he will back the Maharashtra batsman to the hilt having known him as a player for years.

"Kale is a hard-working performer. He has done well on the domestic circuit for years. I don't believe he can ever do something like this," he said.