Four years after the ICC set strict security controls in place around international cricket teams in light of the match-fixing scandal, a bald, mustachioed man with a Pakistani passport managed to spent 15 days with the Indian cricket team in Colombo — in their hotel rooms, in the stadium dressing-rooms — as their ‘‘personal’’ masseur. And the mystery of Sohail Ahmed, aka Pappey Bhai, who was thrown out of the team hotel in public and dramatic fashion by BCCI secretary SK Nair on Saturday, deepened today when Nair’s boss Jagmohan Dalmiya said there was ‘‘no foul play’’ in the masseur’s role. His only fault, Dalmiya said, was that he had been wearing team colours. The truth lies somewhere between Nair’s theatrics and Dalmiya’s deadpan. The whole affair raises several questions (see box), the most important of which is: What is Sohail Ahmed’s status with the Indian team? Nair calls him persona non grata. But his colleague, BCCI joint secretary Ratnakar Shetty, the team manager on the recent tour of Pakistan, found him helpful. ‘‘At the end of the tour I gave him a letter of appreciation for his services as a masseur on the BCCI letterhead, which is a normal practice to those who help the Indian team’’, Shetty said today. WHO IS PAPPEY BHAI? • How were the players allowed to choose their own masseur for an overseas tour? • Did they inform the BCCI about this? (It’s unlikely, because Dalmiya said today the Indian team had another masseur on tour) • Ahmed was not an accredited member of the Indian team. So how did he get past security? (By sheer coincidence, the Asia Cup is organised by the Asian Cricket Council, whose president is none other than Jagmohan Dalmiya) • What were the members of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit doing? ACU rules state that only those people whose pictures are pasted outside dressing-rooms can enter the rooms. Presumably, Ahmed’s picture was not there • And what was John Wright doing at this obvious invasion, by a person of unchecked credentials, of very private and vulnerable space? • Similarly, did physio Andrew Leipus give the OK for Ahmed to work on his wards? Especially the fragile Zaheer Khan? It is believed the same practice existed during the Asia Cup — at any rate, the BCCI said it had not appointed Ahmed. When this reporter spoke to him today, Nair — evidently maintaining that Ahmed’s presence was wrong — held team manager Dorai Rajan responsible for what had happened. ‘‘It was his (Rajan’s) responsibility to look at who travels with the team and who does not.’’ Asked whether action would be taken against officials concerned for allowing breach of security, Nair said: ‘‘Look at the bright side, action has already been taken against Ahmed.’’ Why didn’t the players inform the BCCI, he was asked, to which he replied, ‘‘Why should they?’’ That there’s something amiss became clear to Trevor Chesterfield, this paper’s correspondent covering the tournament, who had two experiences with Ahmed. The first, in conversation with coach John Wright, who said the team was ‘‘happy’’ with the masseur. When Chesterfield requested a meeting, the usually accommodating Wright declined. On Saturday afternoon, just before Nair’s public show of anger, Chesterfield spotted Harbhajan and Ahmed in conversation and went to join them. A security official dressed in black pushed Chesterfield aside, then moved away when nearby TV journalists protested. It is probably too much to expect Dalmiya to clear the air on what he considers a trivial issue. But it will be interesting to see what the ACU — which has reportedly taken note of the matter — has to say about this. (With Vinay Nayudu)
