Mumbai pooh-poohs Prabhakar on bribery allegations

But there were a few like Bharat Shah, a stock-broker. “There has to be something wrong. How else can you explain a team chasing 121 to win collapsing for 80 odd runs ?” is Bharat’s question. He confessed to having lost Rs 10,000 on India during the recently-concluded Independence Cup.Sunil Mishra, who runs a three-wheeler in Vashi and is a die-hard cricket fan, has the most interesting observation. “Yakinan jooth bol raha hai Prabhakar. Ek bar raajneeti me aa gaye to aadmi sach kabhi nahi bolta.” (Surely, he is lying. Once a person enters politics, he never tells the truth). A telling commentary on the Indian politicians as well.

Naveen Rao, an account representative in HTA, feels that given the rampant corruption in India, you just can’t say that our cricketers are absolutely honest. “But Prabhakar has displayed inconsistent, erratic behaviour. I can understand he did not raise the issue then as it is very difficult to do so when you are a part of the system. But why did he not reveal all this when he quit playing ? Why now ?”

Then there were others like V Sreedharan, an aspiring chartered accountant. “I just can’t believe that our Indian players can play such dirty games. The way we have been brought up, the culture that we have imbibed, makes it almost impossible to do such things. A politician might sell his motherland, but not a player,” says Sreedharan.

Waman Bhosale, a retired clerk from a national bank who likes to spend his time watching youngsters play the game at the Shivaji Park, the cradle of Indian cricket, has this to say: “It all depends on whether the team is winning or losing. If India keep on winning, everyone feels that the players are as honest as Gandhiji. The moment they lose, they become dirty. It is our intense love for the game which makes us say all these things.”

AJIT WADEKAR SPEAKS ON THE ISSUE

I am really surprised to read the interview given by Manoj Prabhakar. He was a great all-rounder, a fighter to the core and a perfect teammate of my team when I was the manager.

While Manoj says one of his teammate offered him Rs 25 lakh — which is quite a lot of money — to sabotage the match against Pakistan in Sri Lanka, Aamir Sohail in Pakistan said that one Indian player offered him a bribe too to sabotage his team’s chances! If the match had not been washed out, it would have been a real great match if these two players had accepted the bribes and tried to sabotage the prospects of their respective teams!

And why is Manoj saying all this now ? I never got a wind of it then. He never came to me or the skipper asking to penalise that player who offered the bribe. Anyway, Manoj is known for his big mouth in the team and we used to laugh for this quality of his. I used to try hard to keep him away from the press.

During my tenure as a manager of the Indian team, I had never came across such an incident. I can vouch that no Indian player had ever thought of playing dirty with his country. They might have asked for more allowances, prize money, modelling charges, logo money etc. but never ever betrayed the team nor the country.

After the disastrous South African tour I had to implement the code of conduct. As the rumours were afloat in the media about briberies/bookies in cricketing world, I kept a tap on their telephone conversation for about a month or so without the players’ knowledge. I found absolutely nothing incriminating or objectionable. Since then, I thought my players are absolutely clean.

About the Kanpur TIE: Both Manoj and Nayan were penalised for slow batting more than they deserved it. Chances are Manoj must have heard Nayan wrongly about the instructions from the team management — which were not there at all. Certainly, both the players are not schoolboys to understand that in one-dayers, there can be only victory or defeat and one has to go for victory only.